UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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THE 


LAST  DAYS  of  the  CONSULATE 


FROM  THE  FRENCH  OF  M.  FA  URIEL, 

MEMBER  OF  THE  ACADEMY   OF   INSCRIPTIONS,    AND   PROFESSOR  OF   FOREIGN   LITERATURE 
AT  THE  SORBONNS 


EDITED,  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION, 

BY 

M.  L.  LALANNE. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

oe 

A.   C.   ARMSTRONG   &   SON, 

714,  BROADWAY. 
1886. 


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CONTENTS. 


PACK 

INTRODUCTION V 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  EVENTS  WHICH  PRECEDED 
AND  FORESHADOWED  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE 
REPUBLIC  DATING   FROM   THE    l8TH    BRUM  AIRE  .         I 

CHAPTER  II. 

NOTES   ON   THE     PRINCIPAL     EVENTS   OF    THE   ENGLISH 

CONSPIRACY   PRIOR   TO   THE   ARREST   OF   MOREAU       .      59 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  DUC  D'ENGHIEN — ARREST  OF  MOREAU,  PICHEGRU, 

GEORGES  CADOUDAL,  ETC 1 38 

CHAPTER  IV. 

AN    HISTORICAL   PICTURE   OF   THE     TRIAL    OF   GEORGES 

CADOUDAL    AND    MOREAU 150 


217190 


iv  Contents. 


APPENDIX. 

PAGB 

I.    LETTER    FROM   GENERAL   MOREAU  TO   THE    MINISTER 

OF    WAR  (BERTHIER) 323 


II.  LETTER    FROM    NAPOLEON     TO     THE     GRAND    JUDGE 
CONCERNING  THE  PARDON  OF  ARMAND  DE   POLIGNAC    325 

III.  THE     SUBSEQUENT     FATE     OF    THE     PARDONED   OR 
ACQUITTED    PRISONERS      .  •  .  ,  .  .326 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  manuscript  which  I  have  been  fortunately 
enabled  to  present  to  the  public  has  a  singular 
history. 

Some  years  ago,  Madame  Tangier,  the  niece  of 
M.  Arago,  deputed  me  to  offer  Condorcet's  papers, 
which  had  come  into  her  possession  on  the  decease 
of  her  uncle,  tc  the  library  of  the  Institute.  Those 
papers  had  been  given  by  Madame  O'Connor, 
the  only  daughter  of  the  famous  Girondist,  to  M. 
Arago,  when  he  was  preparing  an  edition  of  Condor- 
cet's works  and  composing  his  panegyric.  In  the 
process  of  classifying  and  arranging  the  numerous 
and  very  interesting  packets,  I  met  with  an  anony- 
mous manuscript,  without  any  general  title,  and 
whose  subject  bore  no  relation  to  the  papers  with  which 
it  was  tied  up.  This  manuscript,  consisting  of  several 
copy-books,  octavo  size,  together  with  separate  sheets, 
notes,  fragments,  and  extracts  from  newspapers  of  the 
year  1804,  was  divided  into  four  chapters.  The  first 
was  entitled  "  Historical  sketch  of  the  events  which 
preceded  and  foreshadowed  the  destruction  of  the 
Republic,  dating  from  the  1st  Brumaire  ;"  the  second, 
"  Notes  on  the  principal  events  of  the  English  con- 
spiracy prior  to  the  arrest  of  Moreau  ;"  the  fourth, 
which  was    the    most   extensive,  and,  unfortunately, 


yi  Introduction. 

unfinished,  "An  historical  picture  of  the  trial  of  Georges 
and  Moreau."  I  may  mention,  that  Georges  Cadoudal 
was  known  among  the  royalist  party  by  his  Christian 
name  only  ;  his  letters  and  orders  were  signed  General 
Georges.  The  third  chapter  was  missing  ;  a  few  frag- 
ments and  notes  indicated  that  it  had  never  been 
written,  and  that  it  was  to  have  treated  of  the  death  of 
the  Due  d'Enghien,  the  royalist  plot,  and  the  creation 
of  the  Empire.  The  mention  of  Admiral  Bruix,  who 
died  on  the  25th  of  March,  1805,  as  still  living,  enabled 
me  to  assign  a  date  to  the  manuscript.  Here,  then, 
was  a  history,  not  constructed,  like  so  many  histories, 
after  the  facts,  either  from  distant  and  sometimes 
unfaithful  recollections,  or  from  second-hand  docu- 
ments ;  but  a  history  written  at  the  very  moment  of 
the  occurrences  which  it  recorded. 

The  reading  of  this  manuscript  made  a  vivid  im- 
pression upon  me.  The  generous  sentiments  that 
pervaded  it,  the  vigour  of  style,  the  elevation  of  ideas, 
the  correctness  of  views  which  it  revealed,  struck  me 
all  the  more  forcibly,  because  I  did  not  know  of  the 
existence  of  any  analogous  document  of  the  same 
epoch,  one  in  which  the  freedom  of  the  press  and 
individual  liberty  no  longer  existed,  liberty  of  the 
tribunal  was  about  to  be  suppressed,  and  when  "  the 
Great  Nation  *  was  reduced  to  the  rare  and  too  often 
lying  communications  which  the  Government  deigned 
to  make  through  the  medium  of  newspapers  entirely 
in  its  own  hands. 

I  have  said  that  the  work  was  anonymous.  Nothing 
in  its  contents  enabled  me  to  discover  its  author,  who 
never  appeared  upon  the  scene  ;  it  was,  however, 
evident    that    he    belonged    to    that  elite  section   of 


Introduction.  vii 

Parisian  society  who  would,  perhaps,  have  been  im- 
pelled by  their  dislike  and  weariness  of  the  Directory 
to  accept  the  18th  Brumaire,  if,  as  he  says,  "Bona- 
parte had  been  prudent  enough  to  take  away  from 
the  French  only  that  portion  of  liberty  whose  loss 
ihey  were  not  capable  of  feeling  or  regretting,"  but 
who  could  not  be  resigned  to  see  most  of  the  precious 
things  that  had  been  won  by  the  Revolution  perish 
with  the  Republic,  and  who  were  enabled  to  preserve, 
and  at  a  later  period  to  revive  the  liberal  traditions  of 
the  generation  of  '89.  The  handwriting  was  small, 
regular,  and  elegant ;  among  other  characteristic 
marks,  the  formation  of  the  letter  /  rendered  it  easily 
recognizable.  Notwithstanding  all  my  researches 
among  manuscripts,  I  had  never  met  with  this  par- 
ticular handwriting  anywhere,  and  I  had  almost 
relinquished  the  hope  of  clearing  up  the  mystery, 
when  an  entirely  unforeseen  circumstance  dispelled 
it. 

In  1883,  after  the  death  of  the  learned  orientalist, 
M.  Mohl,  and  that  of  his  wife,  (Miss  Clarke,)  the  library 
of  the  Institute  was  put  in  possession  of  the  papers  of 
an  intimate  friend  of  theirs,  whom  Sainte-Beuve 1 
called  "one  of  the  most  original  masters  of  the  present 
time,  an  eminent  critic,  most  ingenious  and  sagacious," 
and  of  whom  M.  Renan2  wrote  that  he  was  "indis- 
putably the  man  of  our  age  who  has  put  in  circu- 
lation most  ideas,  inaugurated  most  branches  of  study, 
and  traced  out  most  new  results  in  the  order  of 
historical  investigation."  I  speak  of  Claude  Fauriel, 
born  at  Saint-Etienne  in  1772,  died  in  1844,  member 

1  "Portraits  Contemporains,"  1846,  vol.  ii.  pp.  512  and  536. 
2 Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  15th  December,  1855,  p.  1389. 


viii  Introduction. 

of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  and  professor  of 
foreign  literature  at  the  Sorbonne. 

Being  charged  with  the  arrangement  of  this  mass 
of  correspondence,  notes,  drafts,  and  fragments,  I  had 
already  examined  a  score  of  boxes  without  having 
my  attention  arrested  by  anything,3  when  I  came 
upon  a  page  dating  from  the  writer's  youth,  and  in  a 
band  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  documents 
which  I  had  already  inspected.  Jt  was  the  draft 
of  a  letter  which  he  had  addressed  to  his  friend 
Villers  in  1803.  At  the  first  glance  I  recognized 
so  striking  a  resemblance,  or,  I  should  say,  sucli 
complete  identity  with  the  writing  of  the  manuscript, 
that  doubt  was  not  possible.  Letter  and  manu- 
script came  from  the  same  hand,  from  the  hand  of 
Fauriel. 

Then  arose  the  questions,  how  did  this  manuscript 
come  to  be  among  the  papers  of  the  Condorcct 
family?  how  had  Fauriel,  whose  life  seemed  to  have 
been  devoted  solely  to  the  study  of  the  history  and 
literature  of  the  past,4  been  led  to  write  this  narrative 
of  contemporary  events  ?  lastly,  why  had  he  not 
finished  and  published  it  ?  I  am  about  to  offer  a  brief 
explanation  of  these  points. 

For  many  years  an  unbroken  intimacy  had  subsisted 
between  Fauriel    and    Madame    de   Condorcet.     At 

3  My  attention  had,  however,  been  awakened  by  an  obser- 
vation of  M.  St.  Charavay,  the  skilful  expert  in  autographs,  to 
whom  I  had  shown  the  manuscript.  After  a  long  examination 
he  thought  he  recognized  in  it  something  of  Fauriel's  hand- 
writing. 

4  His  principal  publications,  "  Chants  populaires  de  la  Grece 
moderne,*'  1824;  "Histoire  de  la  Gaule  Meridionale,"  1836; 
"  Histoire  de  la  Croisade  con t re  les  Albigeois,"  1837  ;  "  Histoire 
de  la  Literature  Proveneale,''  1846. 


Introduction.  ix 

the  death  of  the  latter,  in  September,  1822,5 
they  were  still  living  in  the  same  house,  and  their 
books  and  papers  were  in  common  like  their  exist- 
ence. The  manuscript,  either  because  it  was  for- 
gotten, or  for  some  other  cause,  remained  in  the 
hands  of  Madame  O'Connor,  Condorcet's  daughter, 
and  by  that  circuitous  route  reached  the  library  of 
the  Institute. 

Fauriel,  an  ardent  student,  but  a  slow  writer, 
"always  recoiled/'  as  M.  Renan  says,  "from  the 
painful  toil  of  composition/' 6 

Only  the  indignation  aroused  in  him  by  the 
melancholy  spectacle  of  violence,  baseness,  and  false- 
hood daily  before  his  eyes,  could  tear  him  away 
from  his  favourite  tasks  ;  the  irresistible  longing  to 
exhale  his  profound  grief  for  lost  liberty  was  needed 
to  do  that.7 

He  was  also  impelled  by  the  remembrance  of  what 

6  On  the  1 2th  of  September,  1822,  M.  Guizot  wrote  to  Fauriel 
in  reference  to  the  death  of  Madame  de  Condorcet,  "  My  poor 
friend,  I  did  not  hear  until  yesterday  of  the  blow  that  has  fallen 
upon  you.  1  went  to  look  for  you  at  your  own  house,  and  at 
Cousin's.  I  was  far  from  anticipating  this  misfortune  ;  for  some 
days  past,  on  the  contrary,  I  was  easy,  so  that  we  did  not  send 
each  day  for  news.  My  wife  shares  all  my  feelings,  and  wishes 
me  to  assure  you  that  she  does  so.  Adieu,  my  dear  friend,  I 
embrace  you  with  a  very  sad  heart." 

6  "Do  not  wear  yourself  out,"  wrote  M.  Guizot  to  him  on  the 
15th  of  August,  1 8 18,  "in  incessantly  beginning  over  again  what 
is  very  well  done.  You  pass  your  life  in  sacrificing  action  tc 
the  hope  of  perfection,  and  the  result  is  that  while  you  satisfy 
yourself  in  seeking  after  the  better,  nobody  profits  by  the  good 
which  you  have  found." 

7  I  find  the  following  passage  in  a  letter  addressed  to  him  in 
1800,  by  his  friend  Dr.  Panset,  "What!  your  grief  is  not  yet 
subdued  !  Your  regrets  are  still  as  keen  as  ever,  and  you 
cannot  accustom  yourself  to  the  things  of  this  world.  .  .  .  You 
have  not  yet  attained  to  the  calm  that  is  lent  by  despair.  .  .  . 
All  is  a  continuity  among  men,  as  it  is  in  the  laws  of  nature, 


x  Introduction. 

he  had  witnessed  during  more  than  two  years.  After 
having  been  a  sub-lieutenant  in  the  army  of  the 
Eastern  Pyrenees,  and  secretary  to  Dugommier 
(1793),  he  became,  through  I  know  not  what  influence, 
secretary  to  Fouche,  the  Minister  of  Police.  He 
resigned  his  post  in  May,  1802,  notwithstanding  the 
urgent  entreaty  of  his  patron.8  He  had  flattered 
himself  with  the  hope  that  the  regime  which  he  so 
heartily  detested  would  not  last  long  ;  he  must  have 
discovered  his  mistake  very  quickly  ;  discouragement 
ensued,  and  he  returned  to  his  cherished  studies  in 
history  and  literature,  no  longer  caring  to  finish  awork 
which,  he  felt,  was  foredoomed  not  to  see  the  light. 
Besides,  had  he  finished  it,  he  would  have  taken  good 
care  not  to  publish  it  under  the  Restoration.  The 
royalists  would  have  applauded  his  virulent  attacks 
upon  Bonaparte,  and  he,  having  always  remained 
faithful  to  his  republican  convictions,1  would  never 
have  consented  to  furnish  arms  to  the  enemies  of  the 
Revolution.  The  patriots,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
have  been  much  displeased  at  his  warm  defence  of 
Moreau,  who  had  made  so  miserable  an  end.  It 
must  also  be  added  that  after  the  death  of  Madame 
de  Condorcet  the  manuscript  was  no  longer  in  his 
possession,  and  that  he  may  have  thought  it  was 
lost. 

When  he  began  to  draw  up  this  narrative,  Fauriel 
was,  as  he  says  himself,  so  circumstanced,   "  that  he 


and  when  great  injustices  are  practised  with  impunity  in  our 
wretched  species,  I  defy  you  to  say  whether  the  culprit  or  the 
witness  is  to  be  condemned  the  most."  This  letter  and  those 
of  M.  Guizot  are  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Institute. 

8  "You  are  mad,"  he  said;  "this  is  the  very  time  to  stay 
where  you  are.     We  are  coming  in."     "  Sainte-Beuve,"  p.  492. 

1  See  "  Sainte-Beuve,"  p.  489. 


Introdtictioji.  xi 

could  not  know  everything,  and  to  inform  himself  of 
the  truth  was  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  dangers 
next  to  telling  it."  While  seeking  the  most  exact 
information  possible,  he  had  to  avoid  the  slightest 
imprudence  which,  with  the  network  of  espionage  in 
which  Parisian  society  was  surrounded  by  the  Im- 
perial regime,  would  inevitably  have  brought  the 
police  upon  him  ;  thus  he  had  confided  his  project 
and  communicated  his  manuscript  to  only  a  few 
trustworthy  persons  whose  opinion  might  be  of  use 
to  him.  Among  these  confidants  I  think  I  may 
include  in  the  very  first  line  with  Madame  de  Con- 
dorcet,  Madame  de  Stael,2  and  Benjamin  Constant,3 
whose  joint  political  relations  and  literary  tastes  made 
it  easy  for  them  to  supply  him  with  valuable  informa- 
tion and  give  him  useful  advice.  He  received  very 
numerous  remarks  from  them,  both  verbally  and  in 
writing,  which  he  has  jotted  down  on  the  margin  ; 
sometimes  there  are  additions  confirmatory  of  the 
statements  in  the  text,  or  indications  of  facts  omitted 
or  requiring  development  ; 4  sometimes  corrections  of 

2  Madame  de  Condorcet's  circle  was  as  hostile  to  the  Con- 
sular Government  as  that  of  Madame  de  Stael.  "All  that," 
said  Bonaparte,  at  the  end  of  a  discussion  with  Admiral 
Truquet,  "  does  to  talk  of  at  Madame  de  Condorcet's  or  Mailla- 
garat's."     "  Memoires  sur  le  Consulat,"  1827,  p.  34. 

3  On  certain  pages  of  the  fourth  chapter  there  are  some  notes 
written  in  pencil,  and  traced  over  in  ink,  which  are  not  in  Fauriel's 
hand.  The  large,  loose  writing  resembles,  and  most  probably 
is,  that  of  Benjamin  Constant. 

*  These  indications  are  in  many  instances  very  brief  ;  one, 
which  I  have  not  retained,  contains  only  these  words,  "  Queen 
Matilda's  Tapestry,"  and  I  had  some  trouble  to  make  out  their 
meaning.  "  Queen  Matilda's  Tapestry  "  was  the  name  of  a  play 
{piece  de  circo?tstance),  written  to  order  for  the  Government, 
apropos  of  the  famous  project  of  the  invasion  of  England.  Its 
authors  were  Barre*,  Radot,  and  Desfontaines,  and  it  was  acted 
from  the  23rd  Nivose  to  the  23rd  Germinal,  year  XII.,  that  is 
to  say,  for  two  months  and  a  half. 


xii  Introduction. 

style,  but  very  rarely  rectifications.  I  have  repro- 
duced only  the  most  important  of  the  annotations, 
and  have  taken  care  to  distinguish  them  from  my 
own  by  the  words,  "  marginal  note  " 

Whoever  his  confidants  were,  they  kept  his  secret 
so  faithfully  that  not  one  of  the  friends  who 
survived  him  appear  to  have  heard  of  this  work, 
which  exhibits  his  ability  in  quite  a  new  light  ;  not 
a  word  of  allusion  to  it  occurs  in  the  numerous 
letters  of  his  correspondents  which  I  have  had  in  my 
hands. 

The  first  chapter,  "  Historical  sketch  of  t^e  events 
which  pre:eded  and  foreshadowed  the  destruction  of 
the  Republic,  dating  from  the  18th  Brumaire,"  is 
a  document  of  great  merit.  I  do  not  think  that 
so  firm  a  hand  has  yet  depicted  the  political 
situation  of  France,  the  disposition  of  men's  minds 
after  "  that  famous  day,  of  which  almost  all  those 
who  had  co-operated  in  it  repented  themselves  on 
the  morrow,"  and  the  tortuous  manoeuvres  of  Bona- 
parte to  attain  that  supreme  power  which,  from  this 
time  forth,  Fauriel's  sagacity  had  foreseen  would  be 
fatal  to  liberty,  "  without  securing  to  France  the  sole 
good  of  an  enslaved  people,  repose."  I  wish  parti- 
cularly to  point  out  the  picture  of  the  sitting  of  the 
Senate  in  which  the  prolongation  of  the  Consulate 
to  twenty  years  was  voted,  whereupon  Bonaparte,  in 
order  to  elude  that  vote,  had  recourse  to  a  plebis- 
citum  to  get  himself  named  Consul  for  life,  "  knowing 
how  easy  it  is  to  make  the  exercise  of  the  national 
sovereignty  by  an  already  enslaved  people  only  a 
further  resource  for  tyranny,  and  an  additional 
mockery  of  liberty."     A  profound   truth,  which   we 


Introdtiction.  xin 

too,  like  our  fathers,  have  learned  at  our  own  ex- 
pense. 

The  second  chapter,  very  modestly  entitled  "Notes 
on  the  principal  events  of  the  English  conspiracy 
prior  to  the  arrest  of  Moreau,"  contains  a  number  of 
highly  interesting  facts  and  views.  After  having 
related  the  results  of  the  rupture  with  England, 
Fauriel  describes  in  a  very  striking  manner  the  state 
of  the  parties  into  which  the  nation  was  divided  ; 
the  Royalists,  the  Jacobins,  "  who  thought  they  loved 
and  recognized  liberty  because  they  were  ready  to 
revolt  against  tyranny,"  and  finally,  the  Republicans, 
who,  like  the  others,  were  without  leaders,  but  who 
might  have  found  support  in  the  Senate  and  the 
army.  Valuable  details  of  the  organization  of  the 
police  are  succeeded  by  a  narrative  (rather  too  diffuse, 
perhaps,)  of  the  exploits  of  a  miserable  schemer, 
named  Mehee,  who,  in  concert  with  Bonaparte, 
contrived  to  mystify  both  the  English  Government 
and  the  Royalist  party  in  an  extraordinary  way. 
Then  the  author  relates  the  origin  and  development 
of  the  conspiracy  of  Georges  Cadoudal  and  Pichegru, 
and  the  manoeuvres  of  the  police  to  compromise 
Moreau,  the  only  man  whose  influence  and  popularity 
the  First  Consul  had  to  dread ' 

1  Bonaparte  hastened  to  apprise  the  generals  in  command  of 
the  different  corps  of  Moieau's  arrest.  On  the  29th  Pluviose, 
he  writes  to  General  Soult  that  Moreau  "had  decided  on 
making  Pichegru  come  to  Paris,  where  he  had  seen  him  four 
times,  and  also  Georges."  These  four  visits  to  Georges  are 
reduced  to  two  in  a  letter  written  on  the  same  clay  to  General 
Davoust  ("  Correspondance  de  Napoleon  I.,"  vol.  ix.  pp.305, 
321).  Every  word  in  the  letter  to  Soult  is  a  falsehood.  Not 
only  had  Moreau  nothing  to  do  with  Pichegru's  return,  but  he 
was  so  little  known  to  Georges  that  the  latter,  when  they  were 


xiv  Introduction. 

In  the  last  pages  of  this  chapter,  when  he  is  just 
about  to  begin  a  narrative  in  which  "  the  striking 
scenes,  the  unlooked-for  catastrophes  which  abound  in 
history  will  not  be  wanting,"  Fauriel  dwells  upon  the 
difficulties  of  writing  contemporary  history,  the 
'many  obstacles  to  the  just  discernment  of  truth, 
that  present  themselves,  and  he  concludes  with 
the  following  sentence,  which  depicts  the  sincerity  of 
the  historian  :  "  After  all  possible  care  has  been  taken 
to  preserve  myself  from  errors,  only  one  duty  will 
remain  for  me  to  fulfil,  that  will  be  to  make  known 
the  motives  or  the  feeling  by  which  my  judgment 
on  the  facts  shall  have  been  dictated,  so  that  those 
who  will  not  have  shared  my  feelings  and  my  ideas 
may  see  the  cause  of  my  errors,  and  deduce,  as  they 
think  fit,  other  consequences  from  the  same  facts." 

I  have  previously  said  that  the  third  chapter  was 
not  written,  and  I  ask  leave  to  add  a  few  words  to  the 
pages  which  I  have  had  to  put  together  in  order  to 
connect  the  preceding  with  the  following  chapter. 
The  archives  of  the  Prefecture  of  Police,  from  whence  [ 
have  derived  several  interesting  particulars,6  would,  no 
doubt,  have  supplied  more  than  one  concerning  the 
Due  d'Enghien,  had  not  the  two  boxes  containing  the 
documents  relating  to  it,  been  taken  away,  by  order, 
thirty  years  ago,  in  spite  of  the  strong  opposition  of 
the  keeper  of  the  archives,  who  was  well  aware  that 
he  should  never  see  them  again.  One  sad  detail  was 
imparted   to   us.     There   still   remained    among  the 

confined  in  the  Temple,  begged  a  gendarme  to  point  out  the 
general  to  him. 

6  I  beg  to  offer  my  best  thanks  to  M.  Charpentier  in  the  first 
place,  and  secondly  to  M.  Abel  Peyret,  his  successor,  for  the 
assistance  which  they  rendered  me  in  my  researches. 


Introduction.  xv 

papers  a  ring  which  the  unhappy  prince  had  entrusted 
to  one  of  the  persons  present  at  his  execution,  to  be 
transmitted,  with  a  lock  of  his  hair  and  a  letter,  to  the 
Princesse  de  Rohan.7 

The  remembrance  of  this  assassination  hung  heavily 
over  the  whole  life  of  Napoleon.  He  said,  on  seeing 
General  Hull  in,  who  had  presided  at  the  court- 
martial,  "  His  presence  annoys  me.  I  don't  like  what 
he  recalls  to  me."  Afterwards  at  St.  Helena,  he  con- 
stantly reverted  to  the  topic,  now  trying  to  excuse 
himself,  and  again  declaring,  as  he  did  in  his  will,  that 
"under  similar  circumstances  he  would  do  the  same 
again,"  and  this  time  he  was  certainly  sincere,  because 
he  had  never  formerly  concealed  that  the  death  of 
the  prince  and  the  trial  of  Moreau  "  had  served  him 
in  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  he  had  planned 
long  before  ;"  but  where  he  did  not  tell  the  truth 
was  in  uttering  the  following  sentence,  recorded 
in  the  "Memorial  de  Sainte-Helene :"  "Ac  for  the 
different  oppositions  (sic)  with  which  I  met,  and  the 
numerous  solicitations  that  were  addressed  to  me,  as 
report  said  at  the  time,  nothing  is  more  false.  These 
things  have  been  invented  only  to  render  me  more 
odious." 

Nothing  is  more  false  !%  I  find  the  following  in  a 
report  by  a  peace  officer  named  Chabanety,  from 
which  I  have  given  an  extract  elsewhere. 

"  Politicians  are  endeavouring  to  interpret  the 
motives  of  Senator  Lucien's    journey.     They  quote 

f  "  Savary,  who  was  present  at  the  execution,  showed  these 
three  articles  to  Madame  Bonaparte.  I  do  not  know  whether 
the  last  behests  of  the  unfortunate  prince  were  fulfilled." 
'•  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Rdmusat,"  vol.  i.  p.  33. 

8  See  Madame  de  Rdmusat  on  the  intervention  of  Josephine. 


xvi  Introduction. 

as  its  decisive  cause  an  anecdote  concerning  the 
senator  and  his  brother  the  First  Consul.  When  the 
Commission  of  Vincennes  reported  against  the  Due 
d'Enghien,  Lucien  went  to  the  First  Consul,  and  asked 
him  how  he  meant  to  decide  upon  the  fate  of  the 
young  man  ?  '  As  policy  decides,'  was  the  answer  of 
the  First  Consul.  Lucien,  regarding  these  words  as 
a  sentence  of  death,  instantly  drew  out  of  his  pocket 
a  valuable  watch,  flung  it  on  the  ground,  and  trod  it 
to  pieces,  saying  to  the  First  Consul,  'Very  well,  one 
day  you  will  be  broken  to  pieces  like  that.'"  On  the 
1st  of  April,  1804,  eleven  days  after  this  scene,  only 
a  part  of  which  the  police-agent  relates  to  us,  Lucien, 
being  exiled,  quitted  Paris  to  establish  himself  at 
Rome.1 

From  the  beginning  of  the  trial  to  which  the  name 
of  Moreau  lent  so  much  importance  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  the  Government  took  the  utmost  pains  to 
keep  back  from  the  public  as  much  as  possible  of  what 
was  passing  in  the  court.  The  people  had  to  be  satis- 
fied with  what  they  could  learn  from  the  mutilated 
and  perverted  reports  sent  by  authority  to  the  news- 
papers, which  were  not  permitted  to  insert  any 
others.2 

The  sentence  was  no  sooner  pronounced  than  an 
order  was  issued  by  Dubois,  Prefect  of  Police,  for- 
bidding the  sale  or  distribution  of  any  writings  re- 
lating to  the  condemned  persons.     Hence  we  may 

1  See  "  Lucien  et  les  Memoires,"  by  M.  Young,  on  the  subject 
of  his  departure  from  Paris. 

2  From  letters  preserved  at  the  archives  of  the  Prerccture  of 
Police,  it  was  Citizen  Bouchesiche,  the  head  of  the  fifth  division, 
who  was  employed  to  make  these  communications  to  the  news- 
papers. 


Introdziction .  xv  ii 

understand  how  great  is  the  interest  of  the  fourth 
and  last  chapters,  in  which  Fauriel,  in  relating 
the  proceedings  at  some  of  the  sittings,  brings  to 
light  certain  odious  deeds  which  seem  to  have  passed 
into  oblivion,  and  which  M.  Thiers,  actuated  by  his 
excessive  indulgence  for  the  men  and  things  of  the 
Empire,  has  not  thought  proper  to  mention.  Un- 
fortunately he  has  not  been  content  with  keeping 
silence  upon  the  iniquities  committed  in  the  instruc- 
tion,3 and  the  cruelties  inflicted  not  only  upon  the 
accused,  but  upon  witnesses,  in  order  to  extract 
avowals  or  revelations  from  them.4 

In  consequence  of  his  having  neglected  to  consult 
the  official  publications,  he  has  departed  so  widely 
from  the  truth  in  a  certain  passage  that  I  cannot 
refrain  from  reconstructing  it.  The  reader  will  peruse 
the  dramatic  scene  in  which  Louis  Picot,  the  servant 
of  Georges,  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  spectators 
by  displaying  his  hands  mutilated  by  torture,  and  the 
"  Proces  "  contains  the  address  of  his  advocate,  who 
exclaimed,  without  fear  of  contradiction  or  challenge, 


3  The  following  may  be  added  to  the  facts  pointed  out  by 
Fauriel.  Caron,  one  of  the  accused,  who  was  acquitted,  had 
been  placed  in  a  dungeon  at  the  Abbaye  twenty  feet  under- 
ground. "  They  have  made  me  suffer,"  he  said  to  the  judges, 
"  all  that  it  is  possible  to  suffer"  ("  Proces,"  vol.  iv.  p.  218).  I 
have  found  a  touching  letter  from  the  woman  Verdot  to  the 
Prefect  of  Police,  in  the  box  laoelled  Repertoire  de  Pieces  Di- 
verses,  among  the  Cadoudal  documents.  She  tells  him  that  she 
is  in  the  second  month  of  pregnancy,  fed  on  bread  and  water, 
without  sufficient  clothing,  and  unable  to  rest  in  consequence  of 
the  cold.  She  prays  only  that  she  may  be  released  from  the 
*'  secret5'  detention.  She  fell  so  ill  that  she  could  not  be  brought 
to  trial;  besides,  she  would  have  been  acquitted  like  her 
husband. 

4  See  "Proces,"  vol.  vii.  p.  216. 


xviii  Introduction. 

"Who  could  ever  believe  that  among  a  people,  for- 
merly jealous  of  its  rights  to  the  point  of  fury,  the 
personal  liberty  of  citizens  should  have  fallen  into 
such  contempt,  that  Picot  has  been  subjected  to 
treatment  such  as  even  in  Rome  was  inflicted  only 
upon  the  meanest  slaves?"  Now,  M.  Thiers  says: 
"  At  first,  Picot  would  not  say  anything,  but  after- 
wards he  was  by  degrees  induced  to  speak.  ...  He 
was  questioned  anew,  and  by  putting  much  gentle- 
ness into  it,  they  ended  by  bringing  him  to  an  entire 
openness."  Let  not,  however,  these  cruelties  be  im- 
puted— as  the  advocate  imputed  them  with  an 
intention  easily  understood — to  the  zeal  of  some 
subordinate  agent.6  No,  they  were  commanded  by 
the  supreme  heads  of  justice,  an  i  the  responsibility 
for  them  attaches  to  a  still  more  exalted  person 
"  What  you  have  ordered  with  respect  to  the  accu 
man,  Picot,  has  been  executed,"  writes  Thcuriot,  the 
instructing  judge,  to  Real,  the  assistant  of  the  Grand 
Judge.  "  He  has  borne  it  all  with  criminal  resignal 
He  is  hardened  in  crime  and  fanaticism.  I  have  left 
him  to-day  to  his  sufferings  and  his  solitude.  I  will 
have  the  work  begun  again  to-morrow.  He  has 
Georges'  secret,  and  he  must  give  it  up"  6  I  should 
have  supposed  that  Fauriel  was  carried  away  too  far 
by  his  o'x'n  feelings  when  he  says  that  the  strange 
declaration  made  by  Bouvet  de  Lozier,  in  circum- 
stances still  more  strange,  was  torn  from  him  by  tor- 


5 "  Who  knows  to  what  an  extent  the  daring  of  a  few  sub- 
ordinates may  be  carried  in  the  darkness  of  the  prisons?" 
"  Proces." 

6  See  Cretineau-Joly,  "  Histoire  de  la  Vendee  Militaire," 
1842,  vol.  iv.  p.  185. 


Introduction .  xi  x 

ture,  if  I  had  not  found  the  following  characteristic 
sentence  in  a  report  addressed  to  Bonaparte,  by  Dubois: 
"  Bouvet  de  Lozier  has  persisted  in  his  declarations, 
but  it  is  certain  that  he  will  be  brought  to  positive 
avowals.-"  '  By  what  means  ?  The  gentle  processes 
adopted  in  Picot\s  case  enable  us  to  guess. 

Among  other  facts  of  which  M.Thiers  has  neglected 
to  speak,  there  is  one  that  I  am  absolutely  obliged  to 
refer  to,  in  order  to  give  its  true  complexion  to  the 
prosecution  instituted  against  Moreau.  The  accusa- 
tion of  conspiracy  allowed  Bonaparte  to  gratify  his 
private  malice  and  to  strike  at  generals  who  had  had 
■ '  the  easy  misfortune  to  displease  him,"  and  against 
whom,  otherwise,  not  the  smallest  grievance  could  be 
found.  General  Souham  8  and  his  wife  were  arrested, 
"  suspected,"  says  the  warrant  for  their  arrest,  "  of  con- 
spiracy against  the  State  with  Generals  Pichegn', 
Moreau,  and  the  brigand  Georges."  Generals  Ramel 9 
and  Liebert  met  with  the  same  fate,  and  in  the  trial 
there  was  no  more  question  of  them  than  of  the 
officers  attached  to  Moreau's  person,  and  imprisoned 
almost  as  soon  as  he  l  The  most  ill-treated  among 
them  was   young  Normant,2  whose  intelligence  and 

7  Archives  of  the  Prefecture  of  Police,  box  labelled  Surveil- 
lance dcs  barrieres.     Liasse  des  interrogate* ires  pour  le  P.C. 

8  He  commanded  a  division  of  the  army  of  Brest ;  he  was 
made,  or  allowed,  to  come  to  Paris,  and  arrested  at  the 
barrier. 

9  General  Ramel  was  assassinated  at  Toulouse,  in  1815.  He 
was  treated  with  the  utmost  severity.  He  had  received  a  severe 
wound  at  St.  Domingo,  which  was  still  unhealed,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  write  to  the  Prefect  of  Police  to  complain  that  it  had 
not  been  dressed  for  thirty-six  hours. 

1  Among  others,  Captain  de  la  Chasse  de  Perigny,  his  aide- 
de-camp. 

2  J.  F.  Gaspard  Normant,  born  at  Nantes  in  1774;  he  had 
been  a  deputy  to  the  Council  of  the  Five  Hundred. 

a  2 


xx  Introdtution. 

loyalty  are  lauded  by  Faur'el.  On  the  day  of  his 
arrest  (26th  Pluviose)  Dubois  wrote  to  the  First 
Consul,  "  His  papers  have  been  examined  with  the 
greatest  care,  and  contain  only  newspapers  and  memo- 
randa relating  to  the  armies  of  the  Rhine  and  Italy. 
He  has  declared  that  he  has  no  intimate  relations 
except  with  Generals  Moreau,  Bemadotte,  and  Mac- 
donald.  At  the  moment  of  his  arrest  he  indulged 
in  violent  language  against  the  Government  and 
its  actions.  He  uttered  a  pompous  eulogy  of  Moreau, 
and  said  that  it  was  an  honour  to  him  to  share  what 
he  called  his  proscription." 

The  violent  language  and  the  pompous  eulogy  were 
net  forgiven.  When  Normant  recovered  his  liberty 
after  a  detention  of  more  than  four  months,  he  was 
struck  off  the  roll  of  the  army,  and  that  of  the  Legion 
of  Honour,  of  which  he  was  an  officer. 

On  one  point,  however,  Fauriel  and  M.  Thiers  are 
in  unison  ;  it  is  when  they  speak  of  the  agitation,  the 
trouble,  and  the  consternation  which  reigned  in  Pars 
during  the  pursuit  of  the  conspirators.  Bonaparte, 
who  knew  so  well  how  to 

"  Faire  taire  la  loi  dans  le  bruit  des  alarmes," 

left  nothing  undone  to  spread  terror  amid  the  popula- 
tion. The  continual  movement  of  troops  inside  the 
city,  closed  gates,  sentinels  posted  along  the  walls 
at  distances  of  fifty  feet,  and  shooting  "brigands,"  who 
were  probably  inoffensive  citizens,  arrests,  searches, 
and  domiciliary  visits  made  everywhere,  at  all  hours, 
and  upon  the  slightest  accusations,  recalled  the  worst 
days  of  the  Terror  to  the  inhabitants  of  Paris.  At 
the  moment  of  the  trial,  the  ferment,  especially  in  the 


Introduction.  xxi 

army,  was  intense.  The  Prefect  of  Police  received 
threatening  or  ironical  letters  every  day  ;  placards  in 
manuscript  were  posted  every  night.3  One  bore  the 
anagram  of  Bonaparte,  "  Nabot  a  peur"  Another, 
"  Rope  of  honour  awarded  to  the  brave  men  who  have 
distinguished  themselves  by  the  arrest  of  Georges  ;"  a 
third,  **  Moreau  innocent  ;  the  friend  of  the  people, 
and  the  father  of  the  soldiers  in  chains  !  Bonaparte, 
a  foreigner,  a  Corsican,  become  a  usurper  and  tyrant. 
Frenchmen,  judge !  "  A  third,  probably  seized  in  a 
barrack,  was  a  pen-and-ink  drawing  representing  the 
head  of  Bonaparte,  crowned,  and  resting  upon  four 
lion's  claws  ;  by  his  side  a  lamp-post  with  its  halter. 
Lastly,  on  the  back  of  an  eight  of  hearts  was  written 
in  big  letters,  "  Soldiers  who  have  served  under 
Moreau,  you  are  cowards  if  you  let  him  mount  the 
scaffold."  4 

One  last  feature  of  the  transaction.  No  sooner  was 
Moreau  arrested,  than  Bonaparte's  creatures  went 
about  everywhere  repeating  that  his  complicity  with 
Georges  was  proved  and  his  condemnation  certain. 
The  instruction  and  the  proceedings  at  the  trial 
having  by  degrees  dispelled  this  hope,  they  endea- 
voured  to  reconstruct    it  on    the   non-revelation    of 

3  These  letters  and  placards  are  preserved  in  the  box  labelled 
SignalemenU. 

*  I  will  add  here  a  small  particular  hitherto  completely  un- 
known, and  just  communicated  to  me  by  a  friend.  "  In  1826, 
some  men  were  talking  together  in  a  studio  of  the  influence  of 
politics  upon  costume,  of  the  Bolivar  and  Murillo  hats,  and  the 
Quiroga  cloaks.  '  Do  you  know,  my  young  friends,'  said  old 
Chery,  a  pupil  of  Kien,  '  do  you  know  why  the  lappel  of  your 
coats  is  separated  from  the  collar  by  that  cut-out.  three-pointed 
space  forming  an  M  ?  That  dates  from  Moreau's  trial.  His 
partisans  brought  this  detail  of  costume,  which  they  had  made 
a  rallying-sign,  into  fashion.'  " 


xxii  Introduction. 

conspiracy.  "  Savary,"  says  Madame  de  Remusat 
(vol.  i.  p.  305),  "having  questioned  my  husband  on 
this  subject,  and  the  latter  having  answered  that  non- 
revelation  was  not  a  crime  which  would  involve  the 
death  penalty,  Savary  said,  '  In  that  case,  the  Grand 
Judge  has  made  us  commit  a  great  blunder  ;  it  would 
have  been  better  to  resort  to  a  military  commission.'" 
That  was  indeed  a  more  safe  and  docile  instrument 
than  a  tribunal,  even  though  carefully  selected.  Savary 
knew  it  well,  he,  who  had  but  just  quitted  the  bloody 
ditch  at  Vincennes. 

This  final  chapter,  in  which  so  many  moving  scenes 
are  depicted,  was  not  finished.  The  manuscript 
breaks  off  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  after  Moreau's 
speech  before  the  court.  I  have  had  to  go  on  with 
the  narrative  of  this  lamentable  tragedy  to  its  close, 
and  the  documents  of  which  I  have  availed  myself 
will  not,  I  think,  be  devoid  of  interest  for  the 
reader. 

I  believe  that  I  have  not  exaggerated  the  impor- 
tance and  the  value  of  this  work,  which  will,  I  hope, 
add  to  the  reputation  of  Fauriel.  It  is  pervaded  by 
the  tone  of  history  in  the  highest  acceptation  of  that 
word.  In  vain  wouid  the  reader  seek  for  a  single 
scandalous  anecdote  in  its  pages,  and  yet,  how  many 
must  the  former  secretary  of  Fouche"  have  heard,  con- 
cerning the  personages  whom  he  brings  upon  the 
scene !  But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  frequently  come 
upon  the  expression  of  those  strong  dislikes  so  dear  to 
Alkestis.  What  singularly  happy  phrases  are  those 
in  which  he  speaks  of  "  Bonaparte's  intrepidity  to 
piaise,"  of  "  his  skill  in  using 'men,  who  seemed  to 
degrade  themselves  for  the  first  time,"  and  of  Josephine 


Introduction.  xxiii 

as  having  "  preserved  of  the  virtues  of  her  sex,  that  of 
compassion  for  the  woes  of  others."  What  a  flagella- 
tion is  there  in  his  reference  to  the  servility  of  Fon- 
tanes,  and  of  Cambaceres,  "  the  man  most  fitting  to 
carry  gravity  into  baseness."  His  portrait  of  Fouche, 
of  that  man  who,  according  to  M.  Thiers,  was 
"  neither  good  nor  bad,"  is  worthy  of  the  pen  of 
our  best  writers.  I  will  also  instance  the  dramatic 
picture  of  certain  scenes  of  the  trial,  and  the  page — 
of  another  order  of  merit — in  which  he  describes 
the  funeral  of  Pichegru,  in  whose  suicide  he,  in 
common  with  almost  all  his  contemporaries,  refused 
to  believe. 

The  task  of  annotation  which  I  have  executed  was 
an  onerous  one.  I  have  endeavoured  as  much  as 
possible  to  compare  and  complete  the  dicta  of  the 
historian  by  means  either  of  the  journals  and  rare 
documents  of  the  time,  or  of  others  taken  from  the 
archives  of  the  Prefecture  of  Police.  The  Memoirs 
of  Madame  dc  Remusat  have  been  of  great  use  to  me. 
The  two  writers,  living  at  the  same  time,  but  moving 
in  different  social  spheres  and  belonging  to  different 
schools  of  opinion,  are  in  such  complete  accord  on 
certain  facts,5  that  Fauriel's  book  will  henceforth 
serve  in  its  turn  as  a  confirmation  of  the  Memoirs, 
and  a  commentary  upon  them. 

A  last  word.     The  manuscript,  as  I  have  said,  did 


5  Fauriel  speaks  of  "  the  air  of  exultation  and  triumph  with 
which  Bonaparte  established  himself  in  the  apartments  of  the 
unfortunate  Louis  XVI."  We  read  in  Madame  de  Remusat's 
"  Memoires,"  vol.  i.  p.  170,  "  I  heard  from  his  wife  that  on  the 
day  when  he  thought  fit  to  establish  himself  in  the  Tuileries, 
he  said  to  her,  laughing,  '  Come,  my  little  Creole,  come  and 
put  yourself  into  the  bed  of  your  masters.'" 


xx  iv  Introduction. 

not  bear  any  general  title.  That  which  I  have  adopted, 
"  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,"  appears  to  me 
to  convey  a  sufficiently  exact  idea  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  work  in  a  concise  form. 

L.  L. 


THE 

LAST  DAYS  OF  THE   CONSULATE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  EVENTS  WHICH  PRECEDED  AND 
FORESHADOWED  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE 
REPUBLIC,   DATING  FROM   THE    l8TH   BRUMAIRE. 

Before  I  enter  into  the  details  of  those  events  which 
I  purpose  to  narrate,  I  think  it  well  to  give  a  brief 
summary  of  preceding  circumstances,  whose  con- 
sequence and  complement  they  were.  In  order  to 
do  this  I  must  revert  to  the  18th  Brumaire,  year  VIII., 
when,  by  a  sudden  change  of  position  and  role, 
Bonaparte  passed  from  the  headship  of  the  army  to 
that  of  the  nation.  As,  however,  I  can  only  give  a 
sketch  of  a  picture  which  would  need  to  be  vast  and 
various  were  it  to  portray  all  the  truth,  I  shall  limit 
myself  to  such  features  of  the  whole  as  particularly 
suit  my  purpose.  I  am  not  qualified  or  disposed  to 
write  a  history  of  the  government  of  Bonaparte, 
considered  as  a  whole,  and  for  its  entire  duration  ; 
but  I  shall  endeavour  to  point  out  the  rapid  progress 
of  his  elevation  from  the  consulate  to  the  empire  ; 
and  I  shall  try  to  detach  from  the  general  aspect 
of  his  conduct   the  most  manifest    tokens  and  the 

B 


2  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

most  curious  phases  of  his  project.  This  was  to 
annihilate  the  Republic,  and  force  the  French  Revo- 
lution back  to  a  point  at  which  there  should  remain 
nought  but  the  recollection  of  its  misfortunes  and  its 
crimes. 

The  power  upon  which  Bonaparte  seized  on  the 
1 8th  Brumaire,  although  it  was  speedily  placed,  to  all 
appearance,  under  regular  and  constitutional  forms, 
was,  in  reality,  and  by  the  very  nature  of  the  circum- 
stances amid  which  it  had  arisen,  a  power  without 
limits  and  without  counterpoise.  It  was  acknow- 
ledged, by  those  who  had  conspired  to  establish  it,  to 
be  a  sort  of  dictatorship  ;  but  a  dictatorship  all  the 
more  dangerous  to  liberty  on  account  of  the  care  that 
had  been  taken  to  disguise  its  nature  and  to  conceal 
its  name  ;  because  there  existed  only  one  man  held 
capable  of  undertaking  it,  and  that  man  was,  or  might 
believe  himself  to  be,  master  of  the  army,  which  had 
now  become  one  of  the  powers  of  the  State,  and  was 
indeed  the  greatest  of  them  all,  since  the  others  had 
failed  to  do  their  duty  and  broken  their  pled 
The  danger  culminated  in  the  fact  that  the  French 
had  so  much  cause  for  displeasure  with  the  Directory 
and  the  two  Legislative  Councils,  that  they  were 
ready  to  yield  a  joyful  submission  to  any  govern- 
ment which,  while  securing  them  repose,  would  have 
been  sufficiently  prudent  to  deprive  them  of  only  that 
portion  of  liberty  whose  loss  they  were  incapable  of 
feeling  or  regretting.  On  what  a  pinnacle  of  fame  in 
the  memory  of  nations  might  that  man  have  stood 
who,  invested  with  unlimited  power  at  a  period  when 
it  had  become  so  easy  to  usurp  (at  least  temporarily) 
the  rights  of  a  great  people,  had  made  it  his  pride  and 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  3 

glory  to  respect  them  ;  who  had  taken  no  advantage  of 
the  exhaustion  and  the  woes  of  his  fellow-citizens 
save  to  teach  them  to  be  free.1 

Let  us  return  to  Bonaparte.  We  may  safely  pre- 
sume that  his  first  thought  on  attaining  supreme 
power  was,  if  not  to  transmit  it  as  an  inheritance  to 
his  family,  at  least  to  keep  it  securely  in  his  own 
hands  during  his  lifetime,  and  to  render  it  independent 
of  all  those  forms  which  were  regarded  by  the  opinion, 
that  prevailed  at  that  time  as  securities  for  public 
liberty. 

The  first  individual  act  of  his  policy  was  to  write  to 
the  King  of  England,  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  and 
to  the  Tsar  of  Russia — the  only  European  sovereigns 
who  were  as  yet  in  arms  against  France — making 
proposals  of  peace  to  them.  His  secret  intention  was 
to  procure  their  assent  by  offering  them  conditions 
equally  favourable  to  their  interests  and  his  own 
views.  In  order  to  get  hold  of  them  for  the  purposes 
of  his  personal  ambition,  he  would  have  sacrificed 
those  results  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  they 
regarded  with  the  greatest  aversion  and  alarm. 

His  offers  and  insinuations  succeeded  with  the 
Russian  Tsar,  Paul  ; 2  they  were  set  aside  with  prudent 

1  [Marginal  note].  "  Point  out  that,  although  at  first  his  views 
upon  the  use  which  he  might  make  of  his  position  were  not  fixed, 
ami  could  not  be,  they  were  from  the  first  moment  opposed 
to  the  Republic." 

-  [Marg.  note].  "  He  insinuated  in  his  letter  that  the  throne  of 
France  would  be  restored  to  the  Bourbons,  because  the  example 
of  the  dethronement  of  one  king  might  readily  become  dangerous 
to  the  others.  As  for  himself,  he  gave  it  to  be  understood  a 
throne  in  Italy  would  suffice  for  him.  Thenceforth  the  Bourbons 
seemed  to  keep  themselves  more  quiet  in  their  several  retreats.'* 

The  Moiiiteur,  which  had  been  'jince  the  7th  Nivose  the 
only  official  journal,  gives  on  the  26th  (1)  the  letter  of  Talleyrand, 
"Minister    of    Exterior    Relations"    (as    the    Foreign   Affairs' 

B   2 


4  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

reserve  by  the  Cabinet  of  Vienna,  and  disdainfully 
rejected  by  the  Cabinet  of  St.  James's  ;  so  that  instead 
of  coming  into  the  immediate  enjoyment  of  the  kind 
of  authority  to  which  he  aspired,  and  obtaining  the 
assent  and  favour  of  the  foreign  powers  against  the 
French,  he  was  obliged  to  arouse  all  the  remaining 
strength  and  energy  of  the  latter  against  the  former. 
The  necessity  for  continuing  the  war  involved  the 
double  vexation  to  Bonaparte  of  delay  in  carrying 
out  his  plans,  and  the  exposure  of  them  to  various 
hazards.  His  hopes  were,  however,  speedily  en- 
couraged by  the  rapidity  and  the  decisive  importance 
of  his  own  victories  in  Italy,  and  those  of  Moreau  in 
Germany,  in  the  campaign  of  the  year  VIII.,  so  that 
he  began  to  prepare  for  their  complete  fulfilment. 

On  the  momentous  18th  Brumaire  itself,  suspicion, 
uneasiness,  and  dark  presentiments  of  the  character 
and  intentions  of  Bonaparte  had  not  been  wanting. 
The  alternate  insolence  and  weakness  which  he  dis- 
played during  the  day,  the  ridiculous  assurance  with 
which  he  proclaimed  himself  the  God  of  Fortune  and 
Victory  in  the  presence  of  the  Council  of  the  Elders, 
who  were    entirely    devoted    to    him,3  his    agitation 

Minister  was  then  called)  to  Lord  Granville,  Secretary  of  State 
for  Foreign  Affairs  of  Great  Britain,  forwarding  to  him  Bona- 
parte's  letter  to  George  III.;  (2)  Bonaparte's  letter  ;  (3)  Lord 
Granville's  reply  to  Talleyrand;  (4)  the  diplomatic  note  in 
answer  to  Bonaparte's  letter.  The  text  of  these  documents  is 
preceded  in  the  official  journal  by  a  sentence  which  is  somewhat 
strangely  worded:  "The  following  documents,"  says  the  Moni- 
teur,  "  whose  authority  we  do  not  guarantee,  are  extracted  from 
the  English  journal  The  Morning  Chronicle." 

Bonaparte's  letters  to  George  III.  and  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  are  published  in  vol  vi.,  pp.  46  and  47,  of  the  "  Cor- 
respondance  de  Napoldon  "    The  letter  to  the  Tsar  is  not  given. 

3  [Marg.  note.]  u  This  to  be  rectihed.  The  Council  of  the 
Elders  included  men  who  were  frightened  at  what  was  happen- 
ing, and  foresaw  all  that  would  result  from  it." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  5 

and  pallor  when  a  few  members  of  the  Council  of 
Five  Hundred  vainly  but  clamourously  opposed  him, 
the  haste  with  which  he  signed,  two  days  later,  the 
decree  for  the  transportation  of  fifty  of  those  same 
representatives  of  the  French  nation  whom  he  had 
expelled  by  force  of  arms,  were  so  many  rays  of  light 
thrown  upon  the  secret  recesses  of  his  soul.  The 
man  who  had  conducted  himself  in  such  a  way  as 
this  could  hardly  continue  to  appear  heroic  in  the 
vulgar  sense  of  that  term,  and  certainly  was  not  the 
man  whom  France,  and  perhaps  humanity  itself,  were 
awaiting,  that  he  might  ameliorate  and  ennoble  them. 
The  first  circumstance  tending  to  enlighten  obser- 
vant minds  upon  the  kind  of  ambition  entertained  by 
Bonaparte,  and  upon  the  nature  of  his  intentions, 
occurred  shortly  after  the  18th  Brumaire,  and  deserves 
remembrance.  I  allude  to  the  transfer  of  the  seat 
of  the  Consular  Government  and  the  residence  of  the 
First  Consul  from  the  Palace  of  the  Luxembourg  to 
that  of  the  Tuileries.4 

4  The  following  appears  in  the  Publiciste  of  the  first  Ventose, 
year  VIII.,  under  the  heading  of, — 

"  Paris,  the  30th  Pluviose. 

"The  acceptance  of  the  Constitution  was  proclaimed 
yesterday  in  1'aris.  The  Government  was  installed  at  the 
Tuileries  to-day  with  great  pomp.  Close  upon  3000  men  of 
the  different  arms  were  paraded  ;  the  magnificent  uniform  of 
the  Consul's  Guard,  commanded  by  General  Murat,  was  espe- 
cially remarked.  The  cortege^  composed  of  about  forty  car- 
riages, was  formed  at  the  Palace  of  the  Luxembourg,  and  set 
out  a:  one  o'clock  precisely.  The  fine  weather  enabled  an 
immense  crowd  to  circulate  in  the  streets,  on  the  quays,  around 
the  Tuileries,  and  especially  on  the  bridge  formerly  called 
'Royal.'  The  procession  was  headed  by  a  picket  of  heavy 
cavalry.  After  this  came  the  carriage  of  the  Councillors  of 
State,  then  a  military  band,  the  staff  of  the  seventeenth  military 
division,  and  all  the  general  officers  at  present  in  Paris,  the 
ministers'  carriages,  the  Consul's  carriage  drawn  by  ten  white 


6  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

So  much  trouble  was  taken  to  turn  so  ordinary  an 
occurrence  as  a  change  of  abode  into  a  pompous 
ceremony,  that  it  seemed  to  reveal  something  more 
than  Bonaparte's  liking  for  an  ostentatious  display  of 
his  person  and  his  power.  Some  special  features  ot 
the  occasion  prevented  all  this  parade  about  an  occur- 
rence which  did  not  call  for  any,  from  being  simply 
and  solely  ridiculous.  It  was  remarked  that  Bona- 
parte had  been  careful  to  have  certain  inscriptions 
the  walls  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Tuilerics 
erased  ;  these  inscriptions &  commemorated  the  terrible 
day  on  which  the  old  palace  of  the  kings  had  been 
besieged  and  invaded  by  the  popular  fury,  and  the 
throne  of  the  Capets,  long  dishonoured  by  their  vices, 
and  ill-defended  by  the  arms  of  the  last  of  them, 
had  been  riotously  overthrown.  The  observers  were 
struck  by  the  air  of  exultation  and  triumph  with  which 
he  installed  himself  in  the  apartments  of  the  unfortu- 
nate Louis  XVI.,  a  place  of  abode  which  a  First 
Magistrate  of  the  French  Republic,  sufficiently  worthy 
of  that  title  to  feel  no  ambition  for  any  other,  could 
hardly  have  chosen  without  reluctance,  and,  perhaps, 
without  impropriety. 

I  shall  not,  however,  insist  farther  upon  an  indica- 
tion which  may  seem  to  be  no  more  than   a  prescnti- 

horses,  the  st  ff  of  the  Consular  Guard,  the  Mounted  Guard, 
&c."  The  Motiitcur  does  not  give  these  details.  The  short 
article  which  records  the  ceremony  ends  as  follows:  "The 
public  displayed  their  satisfaction  by  loud  applause  ;  hope  and 
joy  shone  in  every  face."  (Afoniteuroi  the  ist  Ventose,  p.  602, 
col.  3-) 

6  A  very  characteristic  inscription  on  the  wall  of  one  of  the 
guard-rooms  in  the  courtyard  ot  the  Tuilcries  was  forgotten  on 
this  occasion,  and  suffered  to  remain.  The  words  were  visible 
to  the  Cortege  as  it  passed  :  "  Royalty  has  been  abolished  in 
France  and  shall  never  be  revived." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  7 

ment,  or  a  recollection  transformed  by  enmity  into 
presentiment,  but  pass  on  to  one  which  was  more 
positive  and  more  important.  Towards  the  close  of 
year  VIII.  a  pamphlet  entitled  "A  Parallel  between 
Cromwell  and  Bonaparte"  appeared  and  attracted 
great  attention.6  The  Protector  of  England  was 
represented  by  the  writer  as  too  completely  Bona- 
parte's inferior  in  military  and  political  genius  to  be 
worthy  of  comparison  with  him.  A  similar  judgment 
was  carelessly  passed  upon  General  Monk.  Only 
the  Roman  Dictator  was  held  worthy  of  such 
honour,  not  as  a  statesman,  but  as  a  warrior.  The 
conclusion  drawn  by  this  strange  parallel  was  that 
nothing  could  so  greatly  conduce  to  the  welfare  and 
glory  of  the  French  nation  as  the  making  of  the  con- 
sulate hereditary  in  the  family  of  Bonaparte. 

In  Paris  this  pamphlet  was  distributed  to  the 
members  of  the  various  governmental  offices  ;  it  was 
addressed  to  all  the  civil  functionaries  of  the  depart- 
ments,  and,   if  I   am   not   mistaken,  to  the  military 

6  The  following  is  the  exact  title  of  .his  pamphlet,  which 
Bourrienne  and  Fouche,  as  well  as  Fauriel,  declare  to  have 
heen  written  by  Fontanes  :  "  Parallele  entre  Cesar,  Cromwell. 
Monck,  ct  Bonaparte,  traduit  de  l'Anglais."  Barbicr  and 
Querard  erroneously  attribute  it  to  Lacretelle. 

'•  Immediately  alter  the  appearance  of  this  pamphlet,"  says 
Bourrienne,  "the  prefects  nearest  to  Paris  sent  copies  of  it  to 
the  First  Consul,  with  complaints  of  the  ill  effects  which  it  was 
producing."  ("  Memoires,"  vol.  iv..  pp.  216 — 219.)  The  prefects 
who  were  at  the  greatest  distance  did  the  same  ;  for  instance, 
Count  d'Eymar,  Prefect  of  Leman.  See  his  correspondence, 
published  by  M.  Gustave  Revilliod  in  his  very  interesting 
volume,  "  Portraits  et  Croquis  "  (Part  I.,  p.  380  and  following), 
Geneva,  1882. 

An  animated  scene  took  place  between  Bonaparte  and 
Admiral  Truguet,  with  reference  to  this  pamphlet,  at  a  sitting 
of  the  Council  of  State,  after  the  ''attempt"  of  Nivose.  (See 
Bourrienne's  "  Mdmoires,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  209.) 


8  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

authorities  as  well.  These  distributions  were  made 
in  profusion  and  without  any  mystery. 

There  was  but  one  authority  in  France  powerful 
enough  to  risk  such  a  proceeding  with  impunity  ; 
that  was  the  same  authority  which  governed  the 
Republic.  The  pamphlet  in  question  had  been  written 
at  the  instigation  of  Bonaparte,7  through  the  inter- 
vention of  his  brother  Lucien,  then  Minister  of  the 
Interior  ;  and  it  was  the  work  of  Fontanes,  who  was  at 
that  time  merely  the  secret  agent  of  Lucien  Bonaparte. 

From  these  data  it  was  easy  to  discern  the  motive 
and  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  the  "  Parallel."  How, 
indeed,  should  Cromwell  be  a  great  man  to  the 
thinking  of  Bonaparte ;  Cromwell,  who  had  con- 
tented himself  with  playing  a  great  'part  under  a  title 
unknown  until  he  bore  it,  and  exercising  a  power  more 
than  royal  with  external  forms  of  austere  simplicity?9 
Monk  must  have  appeared  contemptible  to  him,  not 
so  much  because  he  betrayed  his  party,  as  because 
he  employed  greater  resources  and  more  skilful  in- 
trigue to  restore  their  lost  throne  to  the  Stuarts,  than 
would  have  sufficed  to  seat  himself  securely  on  it. 

Besides,  there  was  still  a  class  of  persons  who 
persisted  in  imputing  to  Bonaparte  an  intention  of 
following  in  the  footsteps  of  Monk  ;  therefore  the 
expression  of  his  contempt  for  that  English  general 
was  neither  gratuitous  nor  superfluous.     As  for  the 

"  According  to  Fouche,  Bonaparte  himself  revised  it. 

8  [Marg.  note.]  "  It'was  the  leading  part  {premier  role)  of  his 
time." 

9  [Marg.  note.]  "He  had  promoted  this  belief,  and  the 
indirect  warning  that  resulted  from  the  share  which  he  had 
taken  in  this  pamphlet  ought  to  have  undeceived  the  foreign 
powers,  perhaps  even  more  effectually  than  it  ought  to  have 
alarmed  France." 


The  L  ast  Days  of  the  Consulate.  9 

Roman  Dictator,  his  only  shortcoming  in  the  eyes  of 
the  French  Consul  was  the  failure  of  his  project  of 
reigning  over  the  Romans. 

At  this  epoch  the  French  believed  themselves  still 
free  ;  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  they  were  still  able 
to  ignore  the  excess  of  the  danger  which  threatened 
their  liberty.  Fontanes'  pamphlet  was  received  with 
much  surprise  and  some  uneasiness.  Only  the  few 
who  were  acquainted  with  its  origin  were  capable  of 
perceiving  all  that  it  foreboded  for  the  future.  The 
many  could  only  regard  it  as  the  production  of  either 
an  indiscreet  flatterer  or  an  astute  enemy  of  the  First 
Consul.  Bonaparte  did  not  think  proper  to  insist 
upon  this  first  revelation  of  his  most  private  and 
cherished  thoughts.  He  at  once  made  Fouche  vehe- 
mently repudiate  the  pamphlet  whose  publication  and 
distribution  in  every  part  of  the  Republic  he  had 
secretly  authorized.  Had  not  the  period  been  one 
at  which  a  tendency  toward  servitude  was  already 
developing  itself  in  the  nation,  the  ambitious  man 
who  ventured  to  utter  so  serious  a  threat  against 
public  liberty  beforehand  would  have  had  less  chance 
of  carrying  it  into  effect.  Bonaparte  found  his  advan- 
tage in  it ;  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  resist  him 
became  accustomed  to  the  consciousness  of  their 
powerlessness  and  weakness,  and  the  more  clearly 
the  nature  of  his  enterprises  was  proved,  the  less  did 
they  dream  of  opposing  them. 

The  continental  peace,  that  glorious  and  necessary 
result  of  the  latest  victories  of  Moreau,1  was  signed  at 

1  It  was  said  everywhere  that  "  Bonaparte  had  triumphed  for 
himself  alone,  and  Moreau  for  peace."  (Fouch^'s  "  Mdmoires," 
vol.  i.,  p.  226.) 


io  TJie  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

LuneVille  at  the  beginning  of  year  IX.2  From  that 
moment  Bonaparte  no  longer  concealed  his  intention 
to  propose  that  a  change  should  be  made  in  the 
constitution  of  the  State,  although  he  did  not  as  yet 
avow  either  the  motive  or  the  precise  object  of  that 
change.  Certain  persons  who  were  in  his  confidence 
to  some  extent — two  or  three  of  his  ministers  among 
the  number— allowed  what  they  knew  of  his  mind  on 
this  point  to  leak  out,  sometimes  of  set  purpose,  but 
occasionally  by  inadvertence.  But  whether  they 
were  really  deceived  about  his  views,  or  whether  they 
feigned  to  believe  them  pure  and  noble,  in  order  to 
secure  a  colourable  pretext  for  seconding  them — a 
question  that  cannot  be  decided — at  all  events,  tli 
persons  complacently  hinted  that  at  last  the  French 
people  were  about  to  be  endowed  with  a  constitution 
worthy  of  them  and  of  the  genius  of  their  chief. 
These  hints,  which  were  at  first  faint  and  mysterious, 
developed  into  a  popular  rumour,  which  found  loud 
utterance  when  the  14th  of  July  was  approaching.3 
Bonaparte,  who  was  not  ready  to  justify  the  rumour, 
had  it  indirectly  contradicted,  or,  at  least,  allowed  a 
contradiction  to  be  promulgated. 

Nearly  two  years  had  gone  by,  and  still  Bonaparte 
was,  or  appeared  to  be,  only  the  elective  and  tem- 
porary head  of  a  great  Republic.  This  was  because 
the  event  on  which  he  had  chiefly  founded  his  plan 
and  his  hopes  had  not  yet  occurred.  Peace  with 
England  had  not  been  made,  and  to  that  peace  the 
nation  attached  the  greatest  value,  because  the  revival 

-  9th  of  February,  1801. 

a  It  will  be  remembered  that  a  national  fete,  in  celebration  of 
the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  had  been  instituted. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  1 1 

of  commerce  and  industry  largely  depended  upon  it, 
and  it  would  afford  the  soundest  security  for  peace 
on  the  Continent.  The  First  Consul  had,  therefore, 
deferred  the  entire  manifestation  of  his  views  until 
the  hour  at  which  this  much-desired  peace  should  b 
proclaimed,  being  convinced  that  the  title  of  "  pacifi 
cator  "  being  his,  it  would  authorize  any  other  titles 
that  he  might  wish  to  add  to  it,  and  that  the  French 
people  would  be  too  happy  to  regain  repose  at  the 
cost  of  all  the  sacrifices  and  all  the  efforts  they  had 
made  to  acquire  liberty. 

The  preliminaries  of  peace  with  England  were 
signed  in  London  at  the  beginning  of  year  X.4  Bona- 
parte, who  wished  to  make  it  appear  as  the  fruit  of  his 
own  genius  and  wisdom  solely,  began,  nevertheless, 
to  bear  himself  like  a  man  who,  regarding  it  as  the 
indispensable  and  simple  effect  of  the  weariness  that 
ensues  upon  every  war,  and  which  had  especially 
followed  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  was  well  disposed 
to  turn  the  excess  of  that  weariness  to  advantage  in 
the  accomplishment  of  his  designs.  From  the  date 
of  the  signature  of  the  preliminary  treaty  in  London, 
he  believed  himself  to  be  sufficiently  powerful  and 
popular  to  venture  upon  an  avowal  of  his  preten- 
sions, and  to  let  his  ambition  soar  unchecked.  Acts 
which  were  the  preludes  to  a  completely  new  order 
of  things  succeeded  each  other  without  interruption 
in  the  course  of  year  X.,  and  the  hypocrisy  with  which 
Bonaparte  had  hitherto  dissembled  his  purpose  was 
no  longer  available  except  in  the  choice  of  means 
and  pretexts.     A  sketch  of  his  conduct  during   that 

4  On  the  night  of  the  ist  of  October,  1801.  (See  ''Thiers," 
book  xi.) 


12  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

year  is  essential  to  my  design  ;  and  I  may  say  that  I 
should  not  regard  such  a  sketch  as  useless,  if  it 
did  no  more  than  prepare  the  imagination  for  the 
strange  events  of  year  XII,  the  particular  subject  of 
this  history. 

The  first  important  result  of  the  preliminary  treaty 
of  London  was  the  Congress  held  at  Lyons  for  the 
organization  of  the  Italian  Republic.5  It  is  for  the 
Italians  who  were  summoned  to  the  Congress,  and  in 
a  position  to  observe  the  intrigues  which  determined 
its  issue,  to  supply  a  history  of  it.  I  refer  to  it  at 
this  place  merely  as  an  event  which  already  threatened 
the  projected  peace  between  England  and  France 
before  it  had  been  concluded,  and  would  have  renewed 
the  continental  war  at  once  had  Europe  been  less 
thoroughly  drained  of  both  men  and  money.  I  shall 
also  relate  an  incident  most  characteristic  of  Bona- 
parte, and  which  throws  a  light  upon  the  subse- 
quent facts  to  which  the  Cisalpine  Congress  was 
the  prelude. 

The  members  of  this  Congress  knew  nothing  about 
the  form  of  the  Constitution  that  was  about  to  be 
given  to  their  country  ;  but  they  foresaw  that  power 
would  be  concentrated  in  a  single  chief,6  and  the 
selection  of  that  chief  was  the  principal  subject  of 
curiosity  and  intrigue.  Their  opinion  and  their 
votes  were  unequally  divided  among  a  very  small 
number  of  their  fellow-citizens,  for  not  one  of 
them  supposed  that  the  idea  of  choosing  a  man 
from  a  foreign    country  to  govern  them  could  pos- 

6  The  Congress  met  in  January,  1802.  (See  "Thiers," 
book  xiv.) 

6  [Marg.  note.]  "  They  foresaw  this  from  the  events  that  were 
occurring  in  France,  and  the  spirit  prevalent  there  at  the  period." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  i  3 

sibly  be  entertained.  The  Consulta  had  nomi- 
nated a  committee  of  thirty  members  to  prepare  the 
deliberations  in  which  it  was  about  to  engage,  and 
also  to  proceed  to  immediate  communications  with 
the  First  Consul  or  with  Talleyrand,  the  promoter  and 
agent  of  his  purpose  in  this  great  affair. 

When  they  came  to  the  nomination  of  the  President 
of  the  Italian  Republic,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Com- 
mittee of  Thirty  should  designate  the  man  whom 
they  considered  most  capable  of  filling  that  post  by 
secret  votes.  This  designation  was  not  to  have  any 
definitive  and  necessary  result  ;  it  was  only  to  be 
tentatively  made,  so  as  to  ascertain  what  were  the 
different  ideas  that  might  exist  in  the  Consulta, 
with  a  view  to  find  farther  means  of  reconciling 
them.  The  Italians  did  not  detect  a  snare  in  this 
measure,  although  it  had  been  suggested  and  advised 
by  Talleyrand. 

Melzi 7  obtained  all  the  votes  of  the  Committee 
except  his  own  and  one  or  two  others,  for  his  col- 
league was  a  man  who  was  actually  his  enemy,  and 
who  wanted  to  be  his  rival.8  Bonaparte  did  not 
obtain  a  single  vote  ;  this  proved  beyond  a  doubt 
that  he  had  not  solicited  votes,  but  it  also  apprized 
him  that  if  he  wanted  them  he  had   better  set  about 

7  The  Duke  of  Melzi-Erile,  of  Spanish  origin,  but  long  resi- 
dent at  Milan, had  there  displayed  partiality  to  the  French,  and 
had  been  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Cisalpine  Republic  at 
the  Congress  of  Rastadt.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  Madame 
de  Stael,  at  whose  bouse  Fauriel  saw  him  frequently.  He 
figures  in  her  novel  "Delphine"  under  the  name  of  "  Ser- 
bellane." 

8  Probably  Marescalchi,  who  was  then  Minister  of  the  Cisal- 
pine Republic  at  Paris.  He  became  Minister  of  Exterior  Rela- 
tions, with  orders  to  reside  near  Bonaparte,  when  the  latter 
procured  his  own  nomination  as  President. 


14  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

procuring  them.  On  learning  the  result  of  the  voting, 
he  instructed  Talleyrand  to  declare  to  the  members 
of  the  Committee,  through  Marescalchi,  that  the  only 
means  of  safety  for  the  Italian  Republic  was  to  make 
the  First  Consul  of  the  French  Republic  its  President, 
and  to  give  them  to  understand  that  any  other  choice 
would  be  superfluous.  This  declaration  produced  its 
effect.9  Thus,  then  did  those  councils  to  which 
unhappy  Italy  looked  for  the  laying  of  the  founda- 
tions of  new  and  vigorous  freedom,  result  in  nothing 
but  the  imposition  of  a  chief  whom  she  did  not  desire, 
and  the  advent  of  a  master  resolved  to  govern  her 
as  his  conquest. 

Bonaparte  returned  to  Paris  to  receive  congratula- 
tions which  were,  as  usual,  loud  and  demonstrative  in 
proportion  to  their  insincerity.  His  first  act  was  to 
order  the  press  to  assure  the  French  nation  through 
the  columns  of  all  the  newspapers  that  his  new  title 
did  not  in  any  way  compromise  the  tranquillity  of 
France,  and  to  assert  that  he  could  not  hive  refu 
assent  to  the  wish  of  the  Italian  Republic,  without 
displaying  a  lack  of  magnanimity  and  even  of 
prudence. 

He  lost  no  time  in  reverting  from  the  attention 
due  to  Italy  to  the  greater  care  which  he  owed  to 
the  affairs  of  France  ;  nor  had  he,  indeed,  been  di- 
verted from  the  latter  for  a  moment.  He  had  only 
to  pass  from  meditation  to  action. 

A  sort  of  party  of  opposition  had  been  formed  in 
the  Tribunate.  This  party,  which  had  perhaps 
lacked  discretion  and  prudence  to  a  certain  extent, 

9  The  election  of  Bonaparte  was  voted  by  acclamation  on  the 
25th  of  January  (15th  Pluviose),  1802. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  15 

had  not  been  deficient  in  either  talent  or  courage.  It 
had  voted  the  rejection  of  several  laws  which  were 
destined  to  form  part  of  the  Civil  Code,  and  it  had 
succeeded  in  getting  some  of  these  rejected  by  the 
Legislative  Body,  in  which,  also,  there  existed  a 
corresponding  party  of  opposition.1  No  more  than 
this  was  needed  to  irritate  and  give  umbrage  to 
Bonaparte ;  but  he  had  had  a  motive  more  serious 
and  more  real  than  any  of  those  which  he  then  avowed 
for  suppressing  every  kind  of  opposition  in  both  the 
Tribunate  and  the  Legislative  Body,  that  is  to  say, 
for  suppressing  in  the  cne  liberty  of  speech,  and  in 
the  other  liberty  of  silence.2  He  foresaw  that  men 
who  ventured  to  protest  against  so  trifling  a  remnant 
of  feudal  barbarity  as  the  right  of  escheatage  [droit 
cVauhainc)  would  not  be  disposed  to  approve  of  the 
system  he  was  concocting  in  his  brain  ;  at  least,  he 
did  them  the  honour  to  fear  them.3 

It  had  been  settled  by  the  Constitution  that  the 
Tribunate  and  the  Legislative  Body  should  be 
annually  renewed  by  one-fifth  ;  but  the  mode  of 
out-going  for  the  members  who  were  successively  to 
form  this  fifth  in  the  five  first  years  had  not  been  laid 
down  ;  no  one  having  supposed  that  any  method 
more  simple  and  equitable  than   the  lot  could   exist. 

1  [Marg.  note.]  "This  was  a  party  of  outspoken  opposition." 

2  [Marg.  note.]  "  Make  it  more  clear  that  the  Tribunate  would 
all  the  same  have  been  weeded  by  Bonaparte,  even  if  he  had 
chosen  to  govern  under  the  title  of  Consul  only  ;  the  freedom 
of  the  speeches  delivered  there,  and  the  nature  of  the  prin- 
ciples to  which  the  discussions  referred,  were  sufficient  motives 
(even  independently  of  his  ulterior  purposes)  for  the  expulsion 
of  these  importunate  orators." 

3  The  Legislative  Body  had  no  right  except  that  of  voting 
secretly,  without  discussion,  upon  the  lavvs  which  were  presented 
to  it. 


1 6  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

The  period  had  now  come  when  the  first  part  a 
renewal  was  to  take  place  in  the  two  bodies.  But 
Bonaparte,4  unwilling  to  await  at  the  hands  of  chance 
an  advantage  that  might  be  secured  by  his  own  fore- 
sight, demanded  from  the  Senate  a  measure  by  which 
his  interest  should  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
caprices  of  fate,  and  the  Senate  hesitated  to  obey  him 
only  just  so  far  and  so  long  as  sufficed  to  prove  that 
their  obedience  was  an  act  of  cowardice  and  a  violation 
of  principle.  By  a  Senatus-consultum  of  the  22nd 
Ventose,  the  Senate  decided  that  the  recomposition 
of  the  Tribunate  and  the  Legislative  Body  for 
year  X.  should  be  effected,  not  immediately  and 
simply  by  the  out-going  of  one-fifth  of  their  members, 
but  byaspecial  re-election  of  the  remaining  four-fifths. 
In  this  fashion  did  the  dignity  of  the  Senate  limit 
itself  to  giving  a  subtle  turn  to  the  fulfilment  of  a 
despotic  order,  and  to  arbitrarily  depriving  a  certain 
number  of  men  of  their  functions,  without  being 
obliged  to  pronounce  their  names.  A  few  days  after- 
wards, a  new  Senatus-consultum,  which  was  only  the 
complement  and  application  of  the  first,  was  issued, 
and  it  was  not  without  perplexity  and  difficulty  that 
twenty  men  were  found  in  the  Tribunate,  and  sixty 
in  the  Legislative  Body,  worthy  of  the  honour  of  being 
reputed  dangerous  to  the  designs  of  Bonaparte.  A 
singularity  wo- thy  ol  mention  is  that  those  acts  of 
the  Senate  took  place  at  a  moment  when  men's 
minds  were  much  occupied  with  the  strange  Con- 
stitution recently  given  to  the  Italian  Republic. 
Now,  in  that  Constitution — a  shapeless  mixture  of 
European  and  Asiatic  ideas,  of  principles  of  liberty 
1  On  the  advice  of  Cambaceres.     (See  "  Thiers,"  book  xiii.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  1 7 

and  despotic  institutions — the  case  analogous  to  that 
which  the  Senate  had  just  settled  in  so  subtle  and 
complicated  a  manner,  had  been  submitted  to  the 
decision  of  the  lot.  It  matters  little  whether  this 
article  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Italian  Republic 
was  an  oversight  of  Bonaparte  or  the  fruit  of  mature 
consideration. 

It  would  be  useless  to  pause  here,  and  comment 
upon  the  advantages  that  accrued  to  Bonaparte  from 
the  Senatus-consultum  of  the  22nd  Ventose.  It 
suffices  to  remember  that  it  was  at  this  period,  and 
by  this  means,  that  he  introduced  into  the  Tribunate 
and  into  the  Legislative  Body  most  of  the  men  who 
have  since  brought  about,  or  accepted  acts  in  the 
name  of  the  French  nation,  that  have  been  fatal  to  its 
liberty  and  glory,  without  securing  repose,  the  sole 
benefit  an  enslaved  people  can  enjoy.  He  also  de- 
rived from  this  the  indirect  but  equally  real  advan- 
tage of  having  made  the  authority  charged  with  the 
maintenance  of  the  Constitution  commit  one  more 
arbitrary  action. 

At  length  the  day  for  which  Bonaparte  had  waited 
with  so  much  impatience  arrived  :  the  peace  with 
England  was  signed  at  Amiens  on  the  4th  Germinal.5 
He  devoted  the  days  immediately  following  the 
publication  of  the  treaty  to  receiving  the  congratu- 
lations of  all  the  authorities,  but  soon  turned  his 
attention  to  the  solid  profit  to  be  derived  from  an 
event  from  which  he  intended  to  reap  much  more 
than  adulation,  however  lavish. 

He  began  by  holding  some  private  conferences  with 
those  members  of  the  three  great  bodies  of  the  State 
5  27th  of  March,  1802. 

C 


1 8  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate 

who  were  most  devoted  to  him.  On  the  conclusion 
of  those  conferences,  on  the  1 6th  Germinal,  he  com- 
municated the  treaty  of  Amiens  to  the  Legislative 
Bodyand  the  Tribunate, to  be  discussed  and  sanctioned 
as  a  law  of  the  Republic.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  how 
diligently  the  orators  who  desired  to  please  the  hero- 
pacificator  strove  on  that  occasion  to  touch  up,  refiv 
and  vary  the  language  of  praise  and  enthusiasm,  and 
how  boldly  they  dealt  in  adulation  under  the  appear 
ance  of  zeal  for  the  national  glory  and  prosperity. 
Chabot  de  l'Allier  6  proposed  that  the  Tribunate,  in 
virtue  of  a  constitutional  prerogative  of  that  body, 
should  express  their  desire  that  a  conspicuous  token 
of  the  national  gratitude  might  be  bestowed  upon 
General  Bonaparte. 

The  circumstances  under  which  this  motion  was 
proposed  lent  it  a  specious  pretext  ;  but  it  was  illegal 
and  even  senseless,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  indefinite, 
and  had  no  special  aim  or  bearing.  The  Tribunate 
had  once  before  used  its  right  of  expressing  its  will  in 
connection  with  the  great  interests  of  the  country,  and 
Bonaparte  was  on  that  occasion  the  object  of  the 
motion.  But  the  Tribunes  had  expressed  their 
wishes  without  any  vagueness  whatever.  The  pro-^ 
posal  was  purely  and  simply  that  the  First  Consul 
should  be  granted  the  Chateau  of  Saint  Cloud  a 
national  recompense.7    Thingsassumedquiteadifferent 

6  Georges  Antoine  Chabot,  member  of  the  Convention  (1795), 
afterwards  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred,  of  the  Tribunate, 
and  of  the  Court  of  Cassation  ;  born  at  Montlueon  in  1758  ;  died 
in  1819. 

7  The  following  is  what  occurred  :  The  Chateau  of  Saint  Cloud 
being  the  nearest  to  Paris  of  all  the  royal  residences,  the  in- 
habitants of  that  commune  had  been  induced  to  present  a 
petition  to  the  Tribunate,  that  it  might  be  offered  to  Bonaparte  ; 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  1 9 

aspect  on  the  16th  Floreal,  when,  proposing  for  the 
second  time  that  a  conspicuous  token  of  the  national 
gratitude  should  be  bestowed  upon  Bonaparte,  the 
Tribunate  modestly  abstained  from  all  prevision  or 
speculation  upon  the  nature  of  that  token.  This  was 
enough  to  lead  even  those  who,  not  being  aware  of  the 
real  btate  of  things,  would  have  been  more  disposed 
to  accept  appearances  for  truth,  to  discern  that  the 
motion  made  at  the  Tribunate,  and  the  declaration 
which  resulted  from  it,  far  from  being  spontaneous, 
formed  part  of  a  plan  previously  concerted  with  the 
only  man  who  had  the  will  and  the  power  to  weave 
webs  of  the  sort,  and  that  it  was  desirable  (or  the  pro- 
gress and  success  of  that  plan  that  the  complimentary 
wish  (vceu)  of  the  Tribunate  should  be  expressed  as 
vaguely  as  possible. 

The  motion  of  Chabot  de  l'Allier  was  unanimously 
adopted,s  and  without  any  speechifying.  No  one 
seized  the  occasion  to  dilate  upon  the  motives  of  the 
motion,  or  to  indulge  in  laudation  of  its  subject.  The 
very  thing  that  ought  to  have  caused  its  rejection — 
its  indefiniteness — no  doubt  principally  contributed 
to  its  acceptance.     Those  members  of  the  Tribunate 


but  he  declared  to  the  commission  charged  to  report  upon  the 
petition,  that  he  would  neither  accept  any  gift  on  the  part  of 
the  people  during  the  term  of  his  office,  nor  for  a  year  after  the 
cessation  of  his  functions.  (See  '•  Memoire  sur  le  Consulat," 
1799—1804,  by  a  former  Counsellor  of  State  [ThibcaudeauJ, 
pp.  5  and  6.     Paris,  1827.) 

8  Chabot,  who  was  a  great  friend  of  Cambaceres,  was  at  that 
time  President  of  the  Tribunate.  After  a  motion  by  Liasson, 
demanding  that  a  deputation  should  be  sent  to  congratulate 
the  Government  upon  the  subject  of  the  treaty,  he  left  the 
President's  chair,  ascended  the  tribune,  and  proposed  the 
motion  for  a  great  manifestation  of  the  national  gratitude 
towards  the  First  Consul. 

C  2 


20  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

who  no  longer  had  the  courage  to  do  their  duty, 
although  they  still  possessed  the  sense  of  it,  conceived 
that  the  nation  would  have  no  right  to  impute  an 
attack  upon  public  liberty  to  them,  because  they 
could  feign  unconsciousness  that  any  such  project  was 
involved  in  their  action. 

According  to  the  Constitution,  the  Conservative 
Senate  was  the  authority  to  whom  it  belonged  to 
deliberate  upon  the  vote  of  the  Tribunate,  in  so  far 
at  least  as  it  was  constitutional  and  legitimate  to 
deliberate  upon  an  indefinite  proposal ;  for  to  inter- 
pret and  to  specify  it  was  to  make  it  the  Senate's 
own  ;  to  do  the  will  of  the  Senate  itself  under  the 
appearance  of  doing  that  of  another  State  body. 
Meanwhile  Bonaparte  had  taken  all  the  necessary 
measures  to  forestall  any  diverse  interpretations  of 
the  meaning  of  the  Tribunes  and  the  Senate.  He 
had  given  such  members  of  the  latter  as  were  the 
most  submissive  to  him,  to  understand  that  the  best 
way  to  carry  out  the  wish  that  had  been  formally 
expressed  would  be  by  making  him  Consul  for  life. 
The  men  who  were  in  his  confidence  were  already  too 
much  debased  by  their  zeal  for  tyranny,  even  before 
it  became  all-powerful,  to  be  in  a  position  to  promise 
much  more  than  their  individual  suffrages.  On  such 
an  occasion  as  this,  and  in  order  to  get  the  better  of 
the  public  common  sense,  he  required  men  who 
either  really  did  degrade  themselves  for  the  first  time, 
or  appeared  to  do  so.  Consequently  he  had  the 
senators  whom  he  distrusted  beset  in  every  way. 
Fouche  distinguished  himself  especially  by  the  eager- 
ness of  his  efforts  to  procure  votes  for  him,  or  at  least 
to  secure  the   silence  of  such   senators  as  he   feared 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  21 

to  find  faithful  to  their  duty.  Indirect  threats,  ful- 
some flattery,  adroit  promises,  reiterated  representa- 
tions of  the  uselessness  of  all  efforts  to  maintain 
certain  results  of  the  Revolution, — all  these  devices 
were  employed  to  secure  the  assent  of  some  of  the 
members  of  the  Republican  minority  of  the  Senate 
to  that  scheme  of  Bonaparte's  of  which  the  Tribunate 
was  the  mouthpiece.9 

All  these  insidious  precautions  were  not  without 
their  utility  ;  and  the  temporary  Consul  might  flatter 
himself  with  every  appearance  of  reason  that  he  would 
soon  be  perpetual  Consul,  or  even  more  than  that. 
The  day  marked  out  for  the  final  development  of  this 
momentous  intrigue  arrived  ;  it  was  the  18th  Floreal ; l 
for  it  is  well  to  remark  that  only  a  few  hours  inter- 
vened 2  between  the  vote  of  the  Tribunate  and  the 
delibeiation  of  the  Senate.  During  the  few  minutes 
which  preceded  the  opening  of  that  too  memorable 
sitting,  the  different  tones  of  private  conversations, 
and  the  various  expressions  of  countenance,  would 
have  sufficed  to  reveal  the  contrast  of  thoughts  and 


9  [Marg.  note.]  "  It  must  be  made  plain  that  Bonaparte's  plan 
had  been  so  arranged  that — 

u  I.  The  Republican  senators  should  propose  the  re-election 
of  the  First  Consul  for  ten  or  twenty  years. 

"  2.  That  others,  who  were  bolder,  should  propose  that  he 
should  hold  the  Consulship  for  life. 

"  3.  That  the  most  imprudent  should  propose  hereditary  power 
under  some  vague  denomination. 

k<  The  plan  was  not  carried  into  execution  without  encounter- 
ing some  difficulties.  From  this  point  of  view  the  famous 
sitting  of  the  Senate  must  be  narrated." 

1  8th  of  May. 

2  [Marg.  note]  "  The  interval  was  an  entire  day.''  In  fact  it 
was  on  the  day  following  the  vote  on  Chabot's  motion,  the  7th 
of  May,  that  the  deputation  was  received  at  the  Tuileries,  and 
the  sitting  of  the  Senate  took  place  on  the  8th. 


22  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

feelings,  and  to  forecast  the  opposition  in  the  coming 
votes,  if  not  in  the  impending  speeches.  The  courage 
of  the  senators  who  were  faithful  to  the  cause  of  the 
country  sustained  them  to  the  point  of  allowing  their 
grief  to  appear,  but  not  their  indignation.  Those 
who  could  still  blush  for  the  pledge  which  they  had 
just  given  to  tyranny  endeavoured  to  disguise  their 
distress  and  shame.  The  calmest  among  them  were 
the  men  who  knew  that  no  fresh  baseness  on  their 
part  would  astonish  anybody. 

Lacepede  opened  the  sitting  with  a  report  in  the 
name  of  a  commission  which  was  supposed  to  have 
examined  the  proposal  of  the  Tribunes  ;  but  the  tone 
of  this  report  was  so  timid,  and  its  conclusions  were 
so  vague,  that  it  left  almost  all  to  be  said  by  the 
senators  who  were  devoted  to  the  First  Consul. 
Tronchet,3  the  advocate,  spoke  first,  and  gave  it  as 
his  opinion  that,  of  all  the  ways  in  which  the  desire  of 
the  Tribunes  might  be  interpreted  and  accomplished, 
the  most  proper  and  effectual  would  be  the  conferring 
of  the  First  Consulship  on  Bonaparte  for  life;  but 
under  the  audacity  and  the  temerity  of  this  speech, 
the  speaker's  embarrassment  and  uneasiness  were  to  be 
detected.4  General  Lespinasse  b  supported  Tronchct's 
opinion  in  the  re.-olute  manner  of  a  man  who  has 
made  up  his  mind  to  be  unboundedly  and  unscru- 
pulously servile,  and  modified  it  only  by  the  adroit 


3  Tronchet  had  been  one  of  the  defenders  of  Louis  XVI. 
He  was  nominated  to  the  Conservative  Senate  in  February, 
1801. 

*[Marg.  note]  "Thus  it  was  the  first  part  of  the  plan  that 
had  failed.      Make  this  more  clear." 

5  He  was  a  general  of  artillery,  and  in  December,  1799,  had 
been  nominated  member  of  the  Conservative  Senate. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  23 

insinuation  that  if  there  were  any  expedient 
preferable  to  that  of  nominating  Bonaparte  Consul 
for  life,  it  would  be  proclaiming  him  Hereditary 
Consul. 

B  >th  these  speeches  fell  rather  flat.  The  senators 
who  were  resolved  not  to  oppose  the  will  of  Bona- 
parte, but  who  needed  to  be  encouraged  to  forget 
their  duties  by  authorities  and  examples,  wanted 
to  have  the  proposal  of  a  measure  which  meant  the 
doing  away  with  the  Republic  expressly  approved  by 
one  of  their  colleagues  of  the  Republican  minority. 
By  a  singular  and  unforeseen  accident  this  encourage- 
ment was  not  afforded  them. 

A  certain  senator,  reckoned  among  the  opposition, 
and  highly  esteemed  for  his  uprightness,  had  been 
induced,  I  know  not  under  what  influence,  to  support 
the  proposal  of  the  Consulship  for  life,  and  he  came 
down  to  the  Senate  on  the  18th  Floreal  with  a  written 
speech  to  that  effect.  But  having  avowed  his  purpose 
to  one  of  his  colleagues  a  few  minutes  before  the 
sitting,  he  was  met  with  such  strong  remonstrance 
that  he  blushed  for  his  weakness,  flung  his  speech  into 
the  fire,  and  promised  his  vote  to  the  cause  of  the 
Republic. 

In  the  midst  of  this  suspense  and  uncertainty, 
Garat  stood  up  to  speak  against  the  proposal  of  the 
Consulship  for  life.  He  defended  the  interests  of 
liberty  with  sufficient  eloquence  to  abash  and  alarm 
those  who  were  tacitly  resigned  to  betray  them,  or 
who  had  formally  pledged  themselves  to  do  so.  He 
also  adroitly  contrived  to  appear  more  anxious  and 
zealous  for  the  honour  and  glory  of  Bonaparte,  while 
thwarting  his  schemes,  than  those  who  were  ready  to 


TIB] 


24  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

sacrifice  the  public  liberties  to  him.  His  speech 
produced  a  rapid  and  profound  impression.  He 
limited  himself  to  proposing  a  sort  of  medium  between 
the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution  and  the  preten- 
sions of  Bonaparte,  viz.  that  the  legal  duration  of  the 
First  Consul's  functions  should  be  doubled.  All  parties 
in  the  Senate — not  one  of  them  being  strong  enough 
to  urge  its  own  opinion  with  effective  force — accepted 
a  measure  which  reconciled  their  conscientious 
scruples  with  their  weakness  and  their  fears.  A  (c\v 
of  the  senators  who  were  devoted  to  Bonaparte 
actually  congratulated  Garat  on  having  pleaded  the 
cause  of  liberty  so  eloquently,  and  thanked  him  foi 
having  saved  them  from  acting  the  cowardly  and 
culpable  part  they  had  promised  to  act. 

The  Senate  immediately  applied  itself  to  drawing 
up  the  form  of  the  re-election  of  Bonaparte,  and  the 
farther  that  recompense  was  from  the  prize  to  which 
he  aspired,  the  more  ic  was  necessary  to  magnify  and 
multiply  the  motives  and  the  pretexts  for  it.  The 
Senatus-consultum  of  the  1 8th  Floreal  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  documents  that  can  be  cited  among  the 
many  which  we  ewe  to  Bonaparte's  intrepid  endu- 
rance of  outrageous  laudation.  He  was  praised  in  this 
strange  preamble  for  having  accelerated  the  progress 
of  knowledge,  consoled  humanity,  and  added  the 
benefits  of  order  and  safety  to  those  of  liberty.  He 
was  declared  to  be  triumphant  in  Europe,  in  Africa, 
and  in  Asia.6  The  latter  would  be  inconceivable 
unless  we  suppose  that  the   authors  of  these  deplor- 


6  The  following  is  the  phrase  :  "  Considering  that  the  Supreme 
Magistrate,  after  having  so  many  times  led  the  Republican 
legions  to  victory,  delivered  Italy,  triumphed  in  Europe,  in 
Africa,  in  Asia."     (The  Moniteur  of  the  2ist  Floreal,  year  X.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate .         25 

able  specimens  of  base  adulation  might  have  been  at 
that  time  unaware  of  the  fact  that  the  only  two 
exploits  of  Bonaparte  in  Asia,  which  were  incontest- 
ably  his  own,  were  the  poisoning  of  eight  hundred 
plague-stricken  French  soldiers  before  the  walls 
of  Saint  Jean  d'Acre,7  and  the  massacre  of  four 
thousand  Turkish  prisoners  at  Jaffa. 

The  Senate  repaired  in  a  body  to  the  Tuileries  to 
present  the  Senatus-consultum,  which  had  just  been 
given.  Bonaparte,  however,  was  already  aware,  before 
the  arrival  of  the  senators,  that  they  had  been  suffi- 
ciently audacious  to  do  his  will  in  part  only,  and  he 
was  so  incensed  that  the  Senate  narrowly  escaped 
being  sent  away  without  audience  of  him.8 

7  M.  Thiers  says  :  "  There  was  an  ambulance  at  Jaffa  for  our 
plague-stricken  soldiers.  To  take  them  away  was  impossible  ; 
to  leave  them  where  they  were  was  to  expose  them  to  inevitable 
death,  either  from  disease,  hunger,  or  the  cruelty  of  the  enemy. 
Bonaparte  said  to  Dr.  Desgenettes  that  it  would  be  more 
humane  to  administer  opium  to  them  than  to  leave  them  alive  ; 
but  the  doctor  made  him  the  much-  belauded  reply, '  My  business 
is  to  cure,  and  not  to  kill  them.'  Opium  was  not  administered  to 
them,  and  this  circumstance  gave  rise  to  a  disgraceful  calumny, 
now  entirely  discredited." 

M.  Thiers  was  imperfectly  informed.  In  1802,  Dr.  Des- 
genettes published,  by  desire  of  the  First  Consul,  a  w  Medical 
History  of  the  Army  of  the  East,"  in  which  he  naturally  could 
not  mention  this  fact.  A  second  edition  appeared  in  1830.  He 
states  in  his  preface  that  the  second  edition  is  similar  to  the 
first,  with  the  exception  that  it  contains  some  notes  which  could 
not  have  been  published  before  1821  (the  date  of  Napoleon's 
death).  In  one  of  these  notes  (p.  245)  he  relates  the  incident 
of  Bonaparte's  proposal  to  him  to  terminate  the  sufferings  of  the 
plague-stricken  men  by  opium.  "  I  simply  answered,"  he  says, 
"  '  My  duty  is  to  preserve  them."'  Bonaparte  replied  that  he 
should  find  others  who  would  better  appreciate  his  intentions. 
He  did,  in  fact,  find  some  such  convenient  instrument,  for  Des- 
genettes learned  on  his  return  from  Jaffa  that  '*  from  twenty-five 
to  thirty  of  the  plague-stricken  patients  had  been  given  a  strong 
dose  of  laudanum.  A  few  of  these  vomited  the  poison,  were 
relieved,  and  recovered,  to  relate  all  that  had  taken  place.'' 

8  "  No  one  who  had  not  seen,  as   I   did,  the  way  in  which 


26  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

He  controlled  himself  sufficiently,  nevertheless,  to 
listen  to  the  address  and  the  decree  of  the  senators, 
without  manifesting  his  mortification  and  rage  other- 
wise than  by  incoherent  and  half-choked  words, 
whose  accent  would  have  contradicted  their  sense 
had  that  been  more  intelligible. 

In  the  night  of  that  same  day  Bonaparte  summoned 
a  secret  council  at  the  Tuilcrics,  composed  of  his  own 
relatives  and  four  other  men,  who  derived  the  privi- 
lege of  being  his  confidants  and  enforced  accomplices 
from  the  nominal  importance  of  their  functions.  The 
object  of  this  consultation  was  to  devise  means  where- 
by to  repair  the  defeat  he  had  sustained,  and  to  punish 
the  Senate  by  doing,  in  spite  of  that  body,  what 
the\-  imagined  they  had  prevented.  A  resolution  was 
formed  to  submit  the  question  of  the  life-consulship 
to  the  votes  of  the  people.  This  step  was,  it  is  said, 
especially  advised  by  Lucien.1  Bonaparte,  however, 
could  not  have  r«  quired  to  be  encouraged  with  respect 
to  the  success  of  any  such  step  as  this  ;  it  needed 
much  less  sagacity  and  experience  than  he  posse 
to  be  aware  how  easy  it  is  to  make  the  exercise  of  the 
national  sovereignty  by  an  already  enslaved  people 
a  resource  the  more  for  tyranny  and  a  flout  the  more 
for  freedom.  It  was  not  very  long  since,  (when  he 
wanted  to  express  his  contempt  for  the  votes  of  the 
people,)  he  had  asserted  that  nothing  would  be  easier 
than  to  make  them  decree  the  equal  division  of  land. 
On     the    following    day     (19th    Floreal)     the     First 

the  First  Consul  showed  his  constraint  and  annoyance,  could 
possibly  have  believed  it ;  his  '  familiars  '  were  in  consternation." 
('■  Mcmoires  de  Fouche,  vol.  i.,  p.  267.) 

9  [Marg.  note.]  "The  expression  of  this  to  be  revised." 

1  According  to  M.  Thiers,  by  Cambacc'res. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Constila'c.  27 

Consul  returned  a  formal  answer  to  the  Senate,2 
thanking  them  for  the  distinguished  mark  of  con- 
fidence and  esteem  that  he  had  just  received  from 
them,  and  declaring  at  the  same  time  that  his  respect 
for  the  national  sovereignty  forbade  him  to  accept 
the  prolongation  of  his  magistracy  from  any  other 
authority  than  that  of  the  French  nation  itself,  and 
that  consequently  he  was  about  to  submit  the 
que-tion  whether  he  was  or  was  not  to  be  Consul,  not 
indeed  for  five  years  beyond  the  term  of  his  con- 
stitutional tenure  of  that  office,  but  for  the  rest  of  his 
life,  to  the  votes  of  the  people. 

It  was  impossible  for  him  to  display  the  nature  of 
his  grievances  against  the  Senate  with  effrontery 
more  pure  and  simple  than  this.  Because  that  great 
body  in  the  State  had  not  treated  his  wishes  with  such 
servile  and  absolute  acquiescence  as  he  had  hoped  for, 
he  affected  to  regard  its  action  as  illegitimate.  It  is 
not  out  of  place  to  recall  to  memory  that  the  "  Act  " 
which  summoned  the  French  nation  to  vote  upon  the 
life-consulship  bore  the  name  of  Cambaceres,s  that 
is  to  say,  of  the  man  who  best  knew  how  to  combine 
gravity  with  baseness,  and  who  thought  by  this  means 
to  save  Bonaparte's  modesty  from  the  impropriety  of 


2  [Marg.  note.]  "  The  answer  was  inserted  in  the  Moniteur, 
and  the  senators  might  have  read  it  before  it  was  communicated 
to  the  Senate." 

3  M.Thiers  reports  Cambaceres' words  as  follows:  u  If  the 
First  Consul  himself  did  such  a  thing,  the  proprieties  would  be 
too  much  offended.  But  I,  as  Second  Consul,  and  quite  dis- 
interested in  the  matter,  may  give  the  impulse.  Let  the  General 
set  out  publicly  for  Malmaison,  1  will  remain  alone  at  Paris; 
I  will  convoke  the  Council  of  State,  and  get  the  new  proposition, 
which  is  to  be  submitted  to  the  acceptance  of  the  nation,  drawn 
up."     (Vol.  xiv.) 


28  llic  L  ist  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

soliciting  the  favour  or  the  justice  of  the  people  in  his 
own  name. 

The  members  of  the  Legislative  Body  and  the 
Tribunate  set  the  example  of  eagerness  in  voting 
upon  the  life-consulship.  If  our  grandsons,  better 
and  more  fortunate  than  ourselves,  ever  have  a 
country,  they  will  mention  with  honour  the  names  of 
the  representatives  who  were  the  only  ones  to  vote  in 
this  great  crisis  against  a  tyranny  whose  weight  was 
felt,  and  whose  growth  was  foreseen  by  all.  The 
number  of  those  names  will  lay  no  tax  upon  memory  ; 
it  amounts  to  exae'ly  four.4 

On  the  24th  Floreal  a  deputation  of  Tribunes  and 
members  of  the  Legislative  Body  waited  upon  the 
First  Consul,  to  present  to  him  the  result  of  their 
votes.  I  do  not  think  anything  in  the  history  of 
Bonaparte  will  hereafter  appear  more  fantastic  than 
the  custom  of  the  great  bodies  of  the  State  pompously 
presenting  themselves  to  render  an  account  of  the 
execution  of  each  successive  demand  of  his  ;  thus 
lending  the  appearance  of  spontaneous  zeal  to  obe- 
dience which  was  the  result  of  fear. 

The  ceremony  of  the  presentation  of  the  registers 
of  the  Tribunate  and  the  Legislative  Body  differed  to 
some  extent  from  ail  the  others  of  the  same  kind. 
Chabot  de  l'Allicr  was  the  spokesman  of  the  deputa- 
tion from  the  Tribunate.  We  have  seen  what  rote  he 
had  accepted  in  this  affair  ;  but  whatever  was  the 
cause,  whether  he  was  enlightened  by  his  own  reflec- 
tions upon  the  errors  and  weakness  of  his  conduct,  or 
whether  he  learned  them  from  the   revolt  of  public 

4  In  the  Tribunate,  Carnot  only  voted  agauist  the  life 
consulship. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  29 

opinion  against  the  ambitious  manoeuvres  of  Bona- 
parte, he  appeared,  on  the  24th  Floreal,  to  be  anxious 
to  repair  or  to  justify  the  blind  or  servile  acquiescence 
of  his  vote  at  the  Tuileries  one  week  previously  in 
the  very  presence  of  the  First  Consul  himself.  His 
speech  was  almost  entirely  confined  to  an  emphatic 
exposition  of  the  conditions  on  which  Bonaparte  would 
be  worthy  to  have  been  elected  by  the  people  as  their 
first  perpetual  magistrate.  He  represented  to  the 
First  Consul  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  what  his 
own  renown  demanded,  i.e.  that  in  his  conduct  he 
should  conform  to  those  principles  which  had  been 
established  by  the  Revolution  ;  that  he  should  do  no 
act  contrary  to  the  public  liberty  ;  that  he  should 
banish  from  his  presence  those  who  flattered  in  order 
to  ruin  him,  surrcund  himself  with  honourable  men, 
who,  having  made  the  Revolution,  had  an  interest  in 
maintaining  it,  and  respect  the  independence  of  the 
authorities  who  were  to  co-operate  with  himself  in 
making  the  laws.  These  ideas  were  so  clearly  set 
forth,  that  the  sentiment  which  inspired  them  could 
not  seem  to  be  equivocal,  and  the  speaker's  tone  of 
voice,  as  he  became  by  degrees  more  and  more 
animated  and  impassioned  until  he  reached  the  close 
of  his  discourse,  gave  it  the  character  of  a  Republican 
exhortation,  indirect  indeeJ,  but  precise  and  inten- 
tional.' 

5  Here  are  a  few  passages  of  this  speech.  After  he  had 
spoken  of  the  striking  homage  rendered  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people  by  the  vote  upon  the  life-consulship  about  to  be 
asked  from  them,  Chahot  added  :  "  Bonaparte's  ideas  are  too 
grand  and  too  generous  to  allow  of  his  ever  departing  from  the 
liberal  principles  that  have  made  the  Revolution  and  founded 
the  Republic.  He  loves  true  glory  too  well  ever  to  tarnish  the 
great   fume   he   has  acquired   by   any  abuse    of    power.      In 


30  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Bonaparte,  who  was  unprepared  for  either  such  a 
tone  or  such  language  on  the  part  of  a  man  who  had 
previously  been  so  subservient,  was  visibly  discon- 
certed, and  his  answer  savoured  of  the  mingled  anger 
and  trouble  that  agitated  him  ;  it  was  brusque, 
common-place,  and  ill-delivered ;  just  the  sort  of 
utterance  to  which  he  is  given  on  occasions  when  he 
is  not  sufficiently  master  of  himself  to  assume  a 
proud  and  r<  solute  tone.  Nevertheless  Chabot's 
harangue  produced  no  other  effect  than  this.  He 
displayed  as  much  courage  in  vainly  palliating  the 
services  that  he  had  just  rendered  to  tyranny,  as 
he  would  have  needed  to  embolden  him  to  refuse 
them. 

Early  in  Prairial,  addresses  of  congratulation  to 
Bonaparte  on  his  presumed  elevation  to  the  perpetual 
consulship  began  to  pour  in  from  all  parts  of  France. 
Among  the  most  unmistakable  signs  by  which 
posterity  will  recognize  how  far  these  addresses  were 
from  being  the  simple  and  frank  expression  of  a 
general  opnion,  I  am  disposed  to  reckon  the  absurd 
inflation  of  language,  sentiment,  and  ideas  which 
characterizes  almost  all  of  them.     In  some  of  these 

accepting  the  honour  of  being  the  First  Magistrate  of  the  French, 
he  contracts  great  obligations,  and  he  will  fulfil  them  all.     The 
nation  which  calls  him  to  govern  it.  is  free  and  generous 
will  respect,  he  will   establish  its  liberty.      Bonaparte,  in  short, 
will  be  always  himself.     He  will  desire   that   his  memory  shall 
be  handed  a  own  glorious  and  irreproachable  to  our  most  di~ 
posterity,  and  never  shall  it  be  said  of  Bonaparte  that  he 
a  few  years  too  many  /  " 

Bonaparte's  reply  to  this  sharp  lesson  must  have  been  ?  very 
awkward  one,  for  the  Moniteur  confines  itself  to  the  remark, 
"  Of  the  answer  of  the  First  Consul,  only  the  following  sentences 
have  been  preserved,"  and  then  follow  eight  lines  of  common- 
place, in  which  the  word  "  liberty  "  does  not  occur.  {Monittur 
of  the  25th  Floreal,  year  X.,  p.  959.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  3  1 

productions  the  expression  of  tenderness  and  admira- 
tion for  despotism  is  carried  to  a  pitch  that  is  either 
burlesque  or  purely  ironical.  "  Why,"  exclaims  a 
magistrate,  whose  name  I  wish  I  could  quote,  "  ivhy 
is  it  not  possible  to  propose  this  question  to  us,  shall  the 
First  Consul  be  eternal  ?  "  "  May  the  First  Consul," 
said  General  Mouncey,  "  pass  into  immortality  only 
after  all  the  present  age !  May  his  satisfaction, 
his  desires,  and  our  affection  avail  to  enlarge  the 
boundary  of  human  existence ! "  When  a  man 
invested  with  supreme  power  is  habitually  flattered 
in  this  fashion  by  an  intelligent  nation,  apt  to 
will  grow  easily  tired  of  admiring  even  great  things, 
be  may-  we  not  conclude  that  he  is  already  or  soon 
a  tyrant ? 

Nearly  three  months  elapsed  between  the  day  on 
which  the  people  began  to  vote  on  the  life-consul- 
ship, and  that  of  the  sending  up  of  the  votes  to  the 
Senate  to  be  scrutinized.  Bonaparte  devoted  the 
interval  to  various  measures  of  administration,  and  to 
the  carrying  into  effect  of  several  projects  of  law. 
The  most  remarkable  among  the  latter  was  the  re- 
newal of  the  slave-trade,  which  was  discussed  by  the 
Legislative  Body  at  the  end  of  Floreal.6 

It  was  reserved  for  that  epoch  to  justify  such  a 
measure  by  reasons  more  odious  than  the  measure 
itself.  I  am  not  in  reality  straying  from  my  subject 
by  entering  at  this  point  upon  a  brief  recapitulation 
of  the  gravest  and  strongest  arguments  that  were 
brought  forward  by  the  Consular  Government  in  the 
so-called   discussion  of  that  law.     It  is  my  design  to 

1  The  law  bywhxh  slavery  was  maintained  in  the  colonies 
was  passed  on  the  20th  of  May,  1802. 


32  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

make  manifest,  with  the  utmost  plainness,  what  was 
the  real  spirit  of  the  period  that  followed  Bona- 
parte's entrance  into  the  Consulate  of  the  Republic 
and  preceded  his  accession  to  the  Empire,  and  how 
can  I  more  fitly  do  this  than  by  quoting  the  political 
maxims  and  principles  of  the  epoch  in  question  ? 
The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  reasoning  by 
which  Bonaparte  had  the  project  of  re-establishing 
the  slave-trade  argued  before  the  Legislative  Body.7 
I  must  here  state  that  although  I  put  them  in  stronger 
and  plainer  words,  I  have  neither  altered  the  substance 
nor  exaggerated  the  expression  of  them. 

"The  ancient  peoples,  whom  we  admire,  who  loved 
liberty  and  enjoyed  it,  nevertheless  had  slaves  ;  it  is  not, 
then  incompatible  with  liberty  that  modern  peoples 
should  deal  in  black  slaves.  The  ancients  kept  their 
slaves  about  them,  and  were,  consequently,  either  the 
authors  or  the  obligatory  witnesses  of  the  ill-treatment 
inflicted  upon  them  ;  we  moderns  relegate  our  blacks 
to  distant  isles,  whence  their  cries  cannot  reach  so  far 
as  Europe ;  we  are.  therefore,  more  humane  than  the 
ancients.  The  commercial  prosperity  of  France 
renders  it  necessary  that  a  certain  quantity  of  the 
produce  of  the  country,  in  wine  and  cereals,  should  be 
sent  to  the  Antilles  for  consumption  by  the  blacks  ; 
now  these  negroes,  were  they  free,  would  prefer 
manioc  to  wheat,  and  the  juice  of  the  sugar-cane  to 
our  wines  ;  it  is,  therefore,  indispensable  that  they 
should  be  slaves.  Lastly,  the  Africans  have  skins  of 
another  colour  than  ours  ;  they  have  customs  [mtrurs) 
and   opinions   which    differ   from   ours,  therefore  we 

7  Admiral  Bruix.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  as  an  extenu- 
ating circumstance  for  him,  that  he  was  born  at  St.  Domingo. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  33 

have  a  right  to  purchase  them  on  the  coast  of  Senegal 
in  order  to  send  them  to  fertilize  with  their  sweat 
the  soil  of  the  islands  of  America,  which  is  more 
productive  and  more  burning  than  our  own."3  The 
Councillor  of  State  who  undertook  to  present  these 
arguments  to  the  Legislative  Body  is  now  an  admiral 
of  the  Emperor's  fleet.     His  name  is  Bruix.9 

Montesquieu,  who  regarded  with  aversion  the 
reasons  so  long  advanced  by  Europe  to  justify 
negro  slavery  in  America,  and  disdained  to  offer  any 
serious  refutation  of  them,  has  contented  himself  with 
depicting  them  from  the  simplest  and  most  salient 
point  of  view  in  a  chapter  of  his  "  Esprit  des  Lois," 
which  was  certainly  an  inspiration  of  the  genius  of 
humanity  by  the  genius  of  irony.  Some  of  the 
arguments  of  this  speech  by  Bruix  might  have  been 
taken  from  Montesquieu's  chapter;  others  might  be 
added  to  it. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  enunciation  of 
this  doctrine  in  the  palace  of  the  Legislative  Body,  a 
forcible  illustration  and  application  of  it  was  supplied 
by  Captain-General  Leclerc  in  the  regions  for  which 

8  The  following  sentences  of  the  speech  prove  that  Fauriel's 
account  of  it  is  perfectly  trustworthy  :  ''That  one  portion  of  the 
human  race  is  condemned  by  nature,  or  by  social  institutions, 
to  servile  toil  and  slavery,  is  a  fact  to  be  lamented.  Sparta 
with  its  helots,  Rome  with  its  slaves,  knew,  cherished,  aye, 
adored  liberty.  The  difference  of  colour,  of  custom,  and  of  life 
are,  however,  the  excuse  for  the  domination  of  the  whites.  It 
is  necessary  for  property  and  power  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
less  numerous  whites  ;  it  is  necessary  that  the  more  numerous 
blacks  should  be  slaves."  (Moniteur  of  the  third  Prairial, 
year  X.,  p.  1003.  Sitting  of  the  Legislative  Body  of  the 
30th  Flor^al.) 

9  Admiral  Bruix  died  in  Paris  on  the  18th  of  March,  1802. 
We  know,  therefore,  that  this  chapter  of  history  was  written 
before  that  date. 

D 


34  T%e  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

it  was  intended.  He  sent  to  Havannah  for  a  large 
number  of  the  strong,  fierce  dogs  known  as  Cuban 
bloodhounds,  to  act  as  his  auxiliaries  in  the  conquest 
of  St.  Domingo,  and  issued  a  military  order  that  the 
animals — truly  a  new  order  of  combatants — were  not 
to  be  fed  with  anything  to  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed, so  that  their  appetite  for  the  flesh  of  the 
negroes,  whom  they  were  destined  to  hunt,  might  be 
in  full  and  unappeased  voracity. 

But  already,  some  months  before  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  slave-trade,  other  institutions,  dictated 
by  the  same  spirit,  and  indicating  even  more  directly 
the  intention  of  founding  an  absolute  government 
Upon  the  ruins  of  the  Republic,  had  been  created,  and 
other  laWs  passed  The  religious  Concordat  of  the 
26th  Messulor,  year  IX,  had  been  sanctioned  as  a 
law  of  the  State  in  Germinal,  year  X.  The  pretext 
of  this  convention  was  there-establishment  of  religion 
as  necessary  for  the  moral  welfare  of  the  people ;  but 
it  was  plain  to  all  that  Bonaparte's  real  motive  was 
to  make  such  pretensions,  pomp,  and  influence 
as  he  meant  to  leave  to  Catholicism  serve  his  own 
policy,  while  he  retained  every  means  of  keeping 
it  in  subjection  to  him,  and,  if  need  arose,  of  being 
revenged  upon  it.1 

This  motive  had  not  escaped  the  perception  of  the 
heads  of  the  Catholic  party  ;  but  it  was  of  great 
importance  to  them  to  be  enabled  to   exchange  the 

1  One  day  Bonaparte  said  to  Bourrienne,  "In  every  countiy 
religion  is  useful  to  government ;  it  must  be  employed  in  act- 
ing upon  men.  I  was  a  Mahometan  in  Egypt ;  I  am  a  Catholic 
in  France.  It  is  as  necessary  for  police  purposes  that  the  re- 
ligion of  a  State  should  be  entirely  in  the  hands  of  its  ruler.*1 
(k  Meinoires  de  Bourrienne,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  279.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  35 

miseries  of  persecution,  its  perilous  honours,  and  the 
barren  esteem  which  they  enjoyed  through  its  means, 
for  a  peaceful  and  well-endowed  existence.  To  com- 
pensate for  the  shame  of  serving  as  instruments  in 
the  hands  of  a  power  which  despised  them,  they 
might  hope  once  more  to  cultivate  the  ignorance  and 
the  prejudices  of  the  people  to  an  extent  even  beyond 
the  requirements  of  the  Government  that  had 
restored  them. 

A  few  days  after  the  legislative  sanction  of  the 
Concordat,  the  institution  of  what  is  called  °  The 
Legion  of  Honour  " 2  was  proposed  and  adopted.  The 
object  of  this  institution  tended  even  more  plainly 
than  the  re-establishment  of  Catholicism  to  accom- 
plish the  secret  designs  of  Bonaparte,  and  the  pretext 
assigned  to  it  was  even  more  impudent.  It  was  taken 
from  a  clause  in  the  Constitution,  by  which  a  recom- 
pense to  the  army  was  guaranteed  in  the  name  of  the 
French  nation.  Such  a  "  legion  "  was  simply  a  first 
order  of  chivalry,  a  first  body  interposed  between  the 
French  people  and  Bonaparte,  according  to  the  too- 
famous  principle  that  a  monarch  is  a  being  of  a 
mysterious  nature,  who,  not  being  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguished from  the  people  whom  he  governs  by  his 
duties  towards  them,  and  his  necessary  influence  upon 
their  destinies,  ought  to  be  still  farther  separated  from 
them  by  classes  of  men  whose  special  function  it  h  to 
connect  him  with  the  nation  by  a  kind  of  honorary 
gradation. 

2  On  the  20th  Flore'al,  year  X.  (9th  of  May,  1802),  a  law,  voted 
upon  the  proposition  of  the  Consuls  by  the  Legislative  Body 
and  the  Tribunate,  instituted  the  order  of  the  Legion  of  Honour. 
It  was  opposed  in  the  Tribunate  by  38  votes  against  56,  and 
in  the  Legislative  Body  by  no  votes  against  166. 

D   2 


36  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

A  singular  incident  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Legion  of  Honour  was  the  selection  of  Rcedercr,  at 
that  time  a  Councillor  of  State,  for  the  duty  of 
explaining  and  justifying  it  before  the  Legislative 
Body.  To  him  it  fell  to  proclaim  the  necessity  for 
reawakening  among  Frenchmen  that  sentiment  of 
honour  which  had  so  long  been  regarded  as  the  main- 
spring of  their  great  deeds  and  their  chief  national 
characteristic ;  to  him  who,  at  an  epoch  of  the 
Revolution  at  which  every  idea  appeared  false  or 
culpable,  for  the  sole  reason  that  it  existed  prior  to 
the  Revolution,  had  proclaimed  that  it  was  necessary 
"to  dishonour  honour"  as  an  old  feudal  sentiment ! 

I  must  not  omit  to  record  that  the  project  of  the 
Legion  of  Honour  was  opposed  at  the  Tribunate  by 
Chauvelin  3  and  Savoie  Rollin.  The  speech  of  the 
latter,  a  cultivated  man  and  a  steady  friend  of  liberty, 
raised  such  strong  objections  to  the  project,  and 
demonstrated  so  clearly  that  it  was  either  useless  or 
dangerous,  that  Lucien  Bonaparte,  then  a  member  of 
the  Tribunate,  was  obliged,  in  the  interests  of  the 
success  of  Bonaparte's  legislative  plans,  to  reply  in 
abusive  terms,  and  to  remove  the  impression  left  upon 
the  minds  of  the  Tribunes  by  threatening  hints. 
The  project  was  adopted  by  the  Legislative  Body  by 
a  majority  of  166  to  1 10. 

Such  an  opposition  was  remarkable  at  a  time  when 
despotism  had  already  taken  so  many  measures  to 
ensure    the   execution  of  its  will  ;   when    each    man 

3  Francis  Bernard,  Marquis  de  Chauvelin,  born  in  1766, 
died  in  1832;  Savoie  Rollin,  formerly  Advocate-General  to 
the  Parliament  of  Grenoble.  Both  afterwards  became  members 
of  the  Legion  of  Honour.  Chauvelin  spoke  last,  and  was 
answered  by  Lucien  Bonaparte. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         $7 

believed  himself  to  be  enjoined  by  prudence  to  act 
against  his  convictions.  Such  was  the  supineness  of 
the  period,  that  we  may  regard  this  incident  as  an 
eloquent  and  severe  censure  of  the  intentions  by 
which  Bonaparte  was  inspired.  This  was  the  last 
effort  of  the  national  representation  against  the  en- 
croachments of  arbitrary  and  absolute  power. 

To  have  re-established  Catholicism  in  a  position 
which  made  it  a  dependent  and  interested  political 
auxiliary,  to  have  formed  within  the  nation  a  body 
distinguished  by  a  purely  honorific  title,  that  is  to  say, 
without  any  civil  or  military  function,  was  to  have  done 
much  towards  preparing  the  foundation  of  an  heredi- 
tary monarchy.  The  place  of  the  throne  had  been,  so 
to  speak,  marked  out  ;  there  remained  only  to  erect  it. 
A  great  deal  of  hypocrisy  was  still  displayed  in  the 
language  used  to  justify  these  two  institutions — the 
Concordat  and  the  Legion  of  Honour ;  but  it  had 
become  easy  for  the  least  penetrating  or  the  least 
suspicious  minds  to  recognize  that  Bonaparte  had 
been  preparing  himself  long  beforehand  to  reign 
as  a  despot,  and  that,  being  incapable  of  investing 
his  despotism  with  any  really  original  forms, 
he  aspired  by  every  effort  to  restore  the  supreme 
power  under  its  oldest  names  and  with  its  most 
insolent  symbols.  He  would  therefore  bring  all  the 
ancient  errors  to  the  support  of  his  views  and  projects. 
Hence,  perhaps,  the  largest  and  most  profound  of 
his  general  ideas  was  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
national  education,  and  to  force  it  back  into  a  circle 
n  which  it  would  be  limited  to  satisfying  merely 
superficial  curiosity,  but  in  which  men  could  learn 
nothing  incompatible  with  respect  for  arbitrary  power. 


38  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

The  overthrow  of  the  system  of  Public  Education 
established  by  the  National  Convention,  (on  this 
Bonaparte  was  resolved  from  the  first.)  was  accom- 
plished at  the  very  moment  when,  notwithstanding 
certain  imperfections  existing  in  itself,  and  a  crowd  of 
obstacles  created  by  circumstances,  it  was  beginning 
to  produce  decidedly  beneficial  results.  Several  intel- 
ligent men,  by  their  more  or  less  :;trong  and  just  ob- 
jections against  the  vices  of  that  system,  seconded  the 
enmity  which  Bonaparte  bore  to  its  advantages  only. 
Fourcroy,  who  had  charge  of  the  department  of 
Public  Education  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior, 
yielding  to  the  vanity  of  surpassing  his  predecessors, 
submitted  a  very  methodical  and  extensive  system  of 
national  instruction  to  the  First  Consul.  Bonaparte, 
not  deigning  to  entangle  his  genius  in  the  labyrinth  of 
divisions  and  subdivisions  involved  in  this  plan,  roughly 
informed  its  author  that  so  much  variety  and  such  com- 
plicated apparatus  was  unnecessary  in  public  educa- 
tion, and  did  not  at  all  accord  with  the  simplicity  of 
his  own  views.  "  A  Utile  Latin  and  Mathematics,"  he 
said  to  Fourcroy,  *'  is  all  that  is  wanted."  The  plan 
was  reformed  and  curtailed  upon  this  general  idea, 
and  brought  up  for  discussion  at  the  Tribunate  at  the 
end  of  Germinal.  It  was  adopted  with  great  praise, 
and  the  strongest  and  most  remarkable  objection 
offered  to  it  was  that  education  ought  to  be  ex- 
clusively entrusted  to  priests  and  at  need  to  monks, 
whom  it  would  be  advantageous  to  restore  for  that 
purpose.  To  record  this  objection  without  naming 
its  author  would  be  to  represent  as  odious  a  thing 
which  was  only  ridiculous.  The  speaker  was  Carrion 
Nizas,  a  person  endowed  by  nature  with  the  singular 


The  Last  Days' of  the  Consulate.  39 

privilege  of  exciting  no  emotion  but  laughter,  and 
producing  the  effect  of  a  jester  while  appearing  as 
the  apologist  of  crime.4 

Such  were  the  principal  laws  by  which  Bonaparte 
had  indicated  his  policy,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
the  success  of  his  ulterior  designs,  at  the  moment 
when  the  registers  which  were  supposed  to  contain 
the  votes  of  the  people  of  France  upon  the  life- 
consulship  reached  the  hands  of  the  Government. 
On  the  10th  Thermidor,  those  registers  were 
despatched  to  the  Conservative  Senate,  with  a 
message  signed  by  Cambaceres,  and  five  days  after- 
wards the  Senate  solemnly  repaired  to  the  Tuileries, 
there  to  render  an  account  of  the  reckoning  it  had 
made  of  the  votes  of  the  nation.  A  circumstance, 
which  was  by  no  means  due  to  chance,  contributed 
to  lend  a  greater  air  of  solemnity  to  the  admission  of 
the  senators  to  the  First  Consul's  presence.  They 
presented  themselves  in  the  midst  of  a  diplomatic 
audience,  which  was  interrupted  in  order  that  the 
First  Consul  might  receive  them,  and  Bonaparte,  in 
the  face,  so  to  speak,  of  all  Europe,  represented  by 
the  various  ambassadors,  heard  himself  proclaimed 
Perpetual  First  Consul,  in  virtue  of  three  million  five 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  thousand  votes.  The  act  of 
the  Senate  was  couched  in  the  following  terms  : — 

u  The    people  of   France    name,  and    the    Senate 


4  The  Marquis  de  Carrion-Nizas,  born  at  Montpellier  in  1767, 
was  an  officer  of  cavalry,  and  was  imprisoned  in  1793.  He 
became  a  member  of  the  Tribunate,  and  his  servility  to  Bona- 
parte excited  the  anger  of  the  public.  His  tragedy  of  '"  Pierre  le 
Grand  "  was  hissed  off  the  stage  on  the  19th  of  May,  1804.  The 
affair  made  a  great  sensation.  (See  the  Journal  de  i'aris  of 
Floreal,  p.  xii.) 


40  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

proclaims  Napoleon  Bonaparte  First  Consul  for  Life." 
It  also  set  forth,  that  in  memory  of  the  great  event  a 
statue  of  peace,  holding  the  laurel  of  victory  in  one 
hand,  and  the  decree  of  the  Senate  in  the  other,  should 
be  erected.  In  this  extraordinary  scene,  where 
adulation  and  slavishness  were  made  to  pass  for  the 
expression  of  the  national  will,  Bonaparte,  instead  of 
feigning  the  emotion,  the  surprise,  or  the  modesty  of 
a  man  dragged  out  of  himself,  so  to  speak,  and  whose 
plans  of  retirement  from  public  affairs  were  upset 
by  all  this  honour,  had  the  honesty  to  demean 
himself  like  one  who  did  but  reap  the  fruit  of  his 
own  bold  scheming.6  In  his  reply  to  the  address  of 
the  Senate  he  plainly  declared  himself  to  be  pledged 
by  his  new  title  to  preserve  the  equality,  the  liberty, 
and  the  prosperity  of  France  from  the  caprices  of  fate 
and  the  uncertainties  of  the  future ; 6  he  announced  that 

6  [Marg.  note.]  "Many  tyrants  are  represented  in  history  as 
accepting  bespoken  and  prearranged  offerings  of  esteem  and 
affection.  But  all.  with  a  sort  of  modesty,  let  themselves  be 
entreated  to  accept." 

6  The  following  is  the  complete  phrase  :  "  By  our  efforts,  by 
your  co-operation,  citizen  senators,  by  that  of  all  the  authorities, 
by  the  confidence  and  the  will  of  this  immense  nation,  the 
liberty,  the  equality,  and  the  prosperity  of  France  will  be  placed 
in  security  from  the  caprices  of  fate  and  the  uncertainties  of 
the  future.  The  best  of  people  snail  be  the  happiest,  as  it  is 
the  most  worthy  of  being,  and  its  felicity  will  contribute  to  that 
of  the  whole  of  Europe." 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  delusions  which  certain  Legislators  were 
still  under  respecting  the  liberal  intentions  of  Bonaparte,  it  will 
suffice  to  recall  the  following  resolution,  which  was  passed  by 
the  Tribunate  at  its  sitting  of  the  29th  Floreal,  year  XI  I.  li  The 
Tribunate  adopts  the  resolution  that  when  it  proceeds  to  do 
homage  to  the  Emperor,  its  President  shall  express  to  him  its 
desire  that  the  happy  epoch  of  the  hitherto  unknown  alliance 
of  Empirt  with  liberty  should  be  eternized*  by  a  medal." 
(journal de  Paris,  8th  Prairial,  year  XII.,  p.  1623.) 

*  This  expression  is  an  awkward  one,  but  so  remarkable  that 
the  translator  has  thought  it  better  to  reproduce  it  exactly. 


The  L  ast  Days  of  the  Consulate.  4 1 

he  would  accomplish  this  aim  and  duty  by  wise  and 
prudent  institutions.  It  was  easy  for  any  who  had  ob- 
served the  manner  in  which  he  had  hitherto  protected 
liberty  and  equality  to  understand  what  he  meant  by 
talking  of  placing  them  in  safety  from  the  caprices  of 
fate.  The  true  sense  of  those  words  was  this  :  "  In 
order  to  fulfil  the  great  task  which  the  people  im- 
pose upon  me  by  naming  me  First  Consul  for  Life,  I 
am  about  to  make  myself  their  hereditary  sovereign." 
I  have  postponed  until  now  a  remark  which 
ought  not  to  be  omitted  from  this  sketch,  but  I 
desire  to  call  attention  to  the  coincidence  of  various 
intrigues  which  already  revealed  the  project  of  an 
imperial  dynasty  with  all  the  measures  taken  to 
elicit  and  collect  the  suffrages  of  the  French  nation 
upon  the  life-consulship.  Rcederer  and  Saint  Jean 
d'Angely  put  forward  the  proposal  to  make  the 
supreme  power  hereditary  in  the  family  of  the  First 
Consul,  plainly  and  without  any  disguise  in  their  re- 
spective journals,  and  as  it  was  well  known  that  both 
professed  a  too  respectful  devotion  for  tyranny  even 
to  dare  to  back  it  up  without  orders,  it  was  reason- 
ably concluded  that  they  were  but  the  echoes  of  him 
whose  advisers  they  appeared  to  be.  A  short  pam- 
phlet, signed  by  an  officer,  and  in  which  Bonaparte 
was  urged  to  make  himself  Emperor  of  the  Gauls 
(without  the  Salic  law)  was  profusely  distributed, 
and  especially  in  places  where  the  police  had  plenty 
of  eyes  and  arms  at  their  service.7  I  have  already 
said  that  in  the  famous  discussion  of  the  desire  of  the 

7  [Marg.  note.]  "To  inform  myself  whether  the  name  with 
which  this  leaflet  was  signed  was  not,  as  is  most  probable,  an 
imaginary  narne.;' 

I  have  been  unable,  notwithstanding  all  my  researches,  to  find 
this  leaflet. 


42  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Tribunate  by  the  Senate,  there  had  been  some  indica- 
tion of  a  preconcerted  plan  to  hand  over  hereditary 
power  then  and  there  to  Bonaparte,  without  having 
recourse  to  illusory  and  momentary  restrictions.  The 
ambition  of  Bonaparte  was  not  awakened  by  those 
servile  and  culpable  manoeuvres  ;  it  was  only  abetted 
and  obeyed.  It  remained,  then,  to  be  decided 
whether  he  distinctly  intended  to  pass  at  a  bound 
from  temporary  magistrature  to  absolute  monarchy, 
without  resting  and  fortifying  himself  for  a  moment 
in  an  intermediate  dignity,  such  as  that  of  the 
consulship  for  life.  All  the  indications  and  all  the 
appearances  authorize  us  to  presume  that  his  plan 
was  in  fact  to  attain  his  end  without  delay  or  turning 
aside,  and  that  he  had  only  been  induced  to  take  an 
oblique  path  by  the  weakness  and  defection  of  his 
agents  in  the  Senate  on  the  occasion  of  the  dis- 
cussion upon  the  motion  in  the  Tribunate. 

The  first  exercise  of  the  Perpetual  Consul's  new 
authority  was  his  addressing  to  the  Senate,  on  the 
16th  Thermidor,  a  project  of  Senatus-consultum 
which  in  several  of  its  fundamental  dispositions 
annulled  the  Constitution,  and  which  was  entitled 
"Organic  Senatus-consultum  of  the  Constitution." 
By  sending  this  Act  fully  drawn  up  to  the  senators, 
he  gave  them  to  understand  that  thenceforth  he  did 
not  mean  to  leave  them  the  initiative  in  his  enterprises, 
nor  even  to  admit  them  in  the  quality  of  consultative 
accomplices,  but  simply  as  passive  instruments.  This 
was  an  avowal  that  he  no  longer  apprehended  any 
limit  to  the  obedience  of  some,  or  any  serious 
obstacle  in  the  opposition  of  others.8 

8  [Marg.  note]  "An  essential  circumstance  has  been  omitted 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,         43 

It  forms  no  part  of  my  plan  to  examine  the 
Senatus-consultum  of  the  16th  Thermidor  in  detail, 
or  to  show  how  widely  the  Perpetual  Consul 
had  extended  the  boundaries  of  his  power  by 
that  Act,  and  what  means  of  farther  extension 
were  included  in  it.9  I  shall  confine  myself  to 
one  point,  which  seems  to  me  very  simple,  and 
sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  hypocrisy,  the  inso- 
lence, and  the  irony  that  characterized  Bona- 
parte's appeal  to  the  national  will.  The  Senatus- 
consultum  in  question  was  in  reality  nothing  but  a 
kind  of  special  constitution  of  the  consular  authority 
in  perpetuity.  It  had  in  reality  been  drawn  up  long 
before  the  official  return  of  the  votes  given  by  the 
nation  was  sent  in,  but  this  eager  haste  to  regu- 
late and  determine  the  prerogatives  of  a  dignity 
before  a  title  to  it  could  be  shown,  might  simply  arise 
from  an  easy  certainty  of  obtaining  that  title,  or 
readiness  to  take  it  for  granted.  What  is  more 
remarkable  and  more  curious  is,  that  while  the 
response  of  the  people  of  France  to  the  question  that 
had  just  been  so  solemnly  put  to  them  must  have 
been  supposed  to  be  still  unknown  ;  while  Bonaparte 
must  necessarily,  for  the  sake  of  propriety  and  pru- 
dence, have  concealed  his  certainty  of  being  pro- 
claimed Consul  for  life,  on  pain  of  revealing  too 
clearly  to  what  it  was  he  owed  that  security  ;  at  this 

here.  It  is  that  on  the  day  when  this  Act  was  sent  to  the  Senate, 
the  avenues,  the  courtyard,  and  the  anterooms  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg were  filled  with  grenadiers.  Up  to  that  time  all  com- 
munications between  the  Senate  and  the  First  Consul  ha  1  been 
made  simply  by  State  messages,  and  without  armed  force." 

9  [Marg.  note.]  "Say  here,  that  by  this  Act  the  First 
Consul  made  himself  President  of  the  Senate." 


44  The  Last  Days  of  the  Co  us  u  fate. 

moment  he  decided  that  Cambaceres  and  Le  Brun 
should  also  be  consuls  for  life,  and  conferred  upon 
them  by  his  own  will  that  very  same  dignity  which 
he,  Bonaparte,  had  declared  he  could  not  hold  legiti- 
mately in  his  proper  person  except  by  the  sovereign 
authority  of  the  French  nation.  By  introducing  to 
a  share  in  the  national  favour,  at  his  own  sole  pleasure, 
two  individuals  whose  notion  of  their  own  merits  was 
too  just  to  allow  them  to  lay  any  claim  to  it,  he  not 
only  afforded  a  fresh  proof  of  his  contempt  for  the 
nation,  but  a  sufficiently  plain  indication  that  the 
title  of  Consul  for  life,  although  he  had  seemed 
ardently  to  covet  it,  was  not  that  on  which  his  lofty 
ambition  was  definitely  fixed. 

The  29th  Thermidor1  was  the  day  settled  for 
the  presentation  of  the  congratulations  of  the 
authorities,  from  the  Legislative  Body  down  to  the 
Commissaries  of  Police,  on  Bonaparte's  promotion  to 
the  Life-Consulship.  This  arrangement  was  not  made 
by  chance ;  the  day  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
Consul's  birth.  There  was  an  attempt  made  to  convert 
it  into  a  national  festival,  and  it  deserves  to  be  noted 
in  history  as  that  on  which  homage,  to  which  no 
national  or  even  political  pretext  could  be  assigned, 
and  which  was  addressed  to  his  person  rather  than 
his  dignity,  was  lavished  upon  Bonaparte.  From 
that  day  forth  the  loftiest  projects  of  his  ambition 
always  appeared  to  be  subordinate  to  the  most 
puerile  whims  of  his  vanity. 

Bonaparte  had  expended  much  greater  resources, 

The  15th  of  August.  On  the  subject  of  the  date  of  Bona- 
parte's birth,  see  the  discussion  by  M.  Th.  Lung  in  "  Bonaparte 
et  son  Temps,1'  vol.  i.,  ch.  3. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate*         45 

and  allowed  himself  far  more  time  in  getting  himself 
made  Consul  for  life,  than  he  proposed  to  devote  to 
becoming  hereditary  chief  of  the  nation.  He  flattered 
himself,  not  without  reason,  that  he  should  be  able  to 
accomplish  his  full  purpose  in  the  course  of  year  XI. 
Early  in  Brumaire  of  that  year 2  he  visited  the 
department  of  Seine  Inferieure  and  some  parts  of 
the  neighbouring-  departments.  I  cannot  positively 
affirm,  but  I  believe,  that  the  only  object  of  this 
journey  was  that  which  is  indicated  by  its  most  posi- 
tive and  evident,  or  indeed,  I  may  say,  its  only  result. 
Madame  Bonaparte  was  admitted,  or  condemned,  to 
share  with  her  husband  all  the  homage  and  all  the 
addresses  which  awaited  him  at  the  various  stages 
of  his    progress.3     On    the  return  of  the  illustrious 


2  "  The  First  Consul  set  out  this  morning  (5th  Brumaire),"  says 
the  Monitciiroi  the  6th,  "  accompanied  by  Madame  Bonaparte." 

3  The  Moniteur  of  the  13th  Brumaire  contains  the  following  : 
"All  these  constituted  bodies  (at  Rouen)  were  presented  to 
Madame  Bonaparte,  and  expressed  to  her,  with  the  tact  peculiar 
to  the  French  nation,  the  feelings  by  which  they  are  animated. 
They  were  received  with  the  kindness  and  amiability  that 
distinguish  the  person  to  whom  their  compliments  were  paid. 
The  wives  of  the  public  functionaries  were  presented  to  Madame 
Bonaparte."  The  same  number  gives  the  speeches  made  to 
her  by  the  prefect,  the  mayor,  the  archbishop,  and  all  the  legal 
officials.  The  opening  passage  of  the  prefect's  speech  deserves 
to  be  quoted.  It  is  as  follows:  "We  have  just  presented  our 
homage  to  the  Chief  of  the  State,  and  you  see  that  not  one  of 
us  could  resist  the  emotion  that  is  produced  by  the  presence  of 
a  great  man.  The  mind  is  affrighted  by  the  distance  that 
divides  him  from  other  mortals  ;  but  the  heart  is  reassured  by 
finding  at  his  side  a  consort  adorned  by  all  the  gentle  and  tender 
virtues."  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  of  the  ten  speeches  whose 
text  is  given  by  the  Moniteur,  four  were  addressed  to  Bonaparte, 
and  six  to  his  wife,  who  must  have  been  equally  surprised  and 
touched  by  the  utterances  of  the  Cure  of  Havre  :  "  It  is  indeed 
a  bright  day  for  the  Cure  of  Havre  and  his  clergy,  that  permits 
them  to  pay  the  tribute  of  their  admiration  to  your  virtues." 
(The  Monitcur  of  the  21st  Brumaire,  p.  202.)     It  is  well  to  add 


46  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

couple,  after  their  rehearsal  of  the  airs  of  royal 
majesty,  the  Senate  and  the  other  great  bodies,  still 
(by  a  remaining  fragment  of  the  illusions  of  the 
Republic)  held  to  be  formed  of  representatives  of  the 
French  people,  did  not  venture  to  refuse  that  homage 
to  the  wife  of  the  Chief  of  the  State  which  he  had  so 
delicately  and  ingeniously  made  easy  to  them  by  first 
seeking  it  within  the  wails  of  Rouen.  Those  who  even 
then  refused  to  believe  that  the  First  Consul's  intention 
was  to  make  himself  an  hereditary  monarch,  be 
to  suspect  him  when  they  saw  what  pains  he  took  to 
have  his  wife  treated  like  a  queen,  since  only  a  political 
motive  could  be  sought  for  in  conduct  which  no  one 
could  possibly  impute  to  weakness  or  to  mistaken 
conjugal  tenderness. 

I  shall  relate  here  only  one  of  the  numerous 
particulars  of  Bonaparte's  journey  to  Rouen,  because 
it  appears  to  me  to  throw  a  strong  light  upon  his 
character.  He  went  to  visit  the  battle-field  of  Ivry, 
and  gave  orders  for  the  erection  of  a  pyramid  in 
honour  of  Henry  IV.,  with  an  inscription  dictated  by 
himself,  in  which  praises  of  the  magnanimous  Henry 
were  mixed  up  with  insults  to  his  descendants.  I 
leave  it  to  all  those  who  combine  good  feeling  with 
good  breeding  to  pass  judgment  on  this  idea  of  Bona- 
parte, this  converting  of  a  monument  to  the  best  of 
the  Bourbons  into  a  manifesto  of  his  own  self-interested 
enmity  towards  the   fallen  inheritors   of  his  throne, 

that  on  the  ist'Bvumaire,  year  XI.,  the  Consuls  had  issued  a 
decree  that  the  wife  of  the  First  Consul  should  have  four  ladies 
with  her,  to  do  the  honours  of  the  palace.  These  four  ladies 
were  respectively,  Mdme.  de  Talhouet,  Mdme.  dc  Lueay, 
Mdme.  Lauriston,  and  Mdmc.de  Rdmusat.  (See  "  Memoires 
dc  Mdme.  de  Rcmusat,"  ch.  i.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  47 

and  lending  solemnity  to  the  insults  which  he  lavished 
upon  the  living,  by  inscribing  them  upon  the  tomb  of 
the  dead. 

In  the  course  of  Ventose  of  this  same  year  all  was 
ready,  every  circumstance  seemed  favourable  to  the 
complete  manifestation  and  full  accomplishment  of  the 
designs  of  Bonaparte.  The  scheme  of  the  institutions 
and  measures  which  he  conceived  to  be  useful  or 
necessary  to  his  ulterior  power  was  perfecting  itself 
from  day  to  day.  At  the  beginning  of  Frimaire  he 
had  handed  over  the  police  service  of  the  theatres  to 
his  prefects  of  police,  in  order  to  get  into  his  hands 
every  possible  means  of  repressing  or  corrupting 
public  opinion  in  the  only  kind  of  assembly  at  which 
it  could  still  manifest  itself. 

Shortly  afterwards  he  had  organized  "  senatoreries"4 
with  funded  endowments,  and  these  were  destined  to 
form  another  gradation  between  the  people  and  their 
future  monarch.  After  this  he  had  re-formed  the 
National  Institute  on  the  plan  of  the  former 
Academies,  for  the  purpose  of  exerting  a  more 
positive  influence  over  it  than  the  king  had  exercised 
over  the  Academies  under  the  old  regime. 

One  special  object  of  this  re-formation  was  his 
express  intention  of  abolishing  a  class  in  that  learned 
body  which  was  entitled,  "  The  Class  of  Moral  and 
Political  Sciences."  Lastly,  on  the  occasion  of  money 
being  minted,  in  the  course  of  Ventose,  he  had  caused 
an  act  to  be  passed  for  the  substitution  of  his  own 
effigy  for  the  emblem  of  the  Republic  on  one  face  of 
the  new  coins. 

This  was,  if  not  the  most  striking  of  all  the    in- 

4  These  were  created  on  the  4th  of  January,  1803. 


48  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate* 

dications  of  his  great  scheme,  that  which  appealed 
most  directly  to  the  popular  comprehension  ;  for  it 
was  from  the  multiplication  of  the  effigies  of  their 
kings  upon  the  precious  metals,  which  they  coveted  so 
ardently,  and  earned  so  hardly,  that  the  people  derived 
their  clearest  idea  of  the  existence  of  those  kings  and 
of  their  power.5 

The  re-establishment  of  several  monarchical  sym- 
bols in  succession,  of  former  customs  of  the  court. 
of  various  external  marks  of  the  former  inequality 
in  rank,  served  to  point  out  the  aim  and  reveal  the 
motive  of  this  legislation,  which  was  so  appropriate  to 
his  plans  for  the  future. 

The  principles  of  liberty  were  attacked  with 
increasing  impudence  and  contempt  from  day 
to  day,  in  the  newspapers  and  by  hired  pam- 
phleteers. The  authors  of  those  shameless  apolo 
for  a  despotism  already  all-powerful,  but  which 
aspired  to  the  names  and  the  forms  held  sacred 
by  old  prejudices,  never  relaxed  in  their  efforts 
to  inspire  hatred  and  contempt  for  the  Bourbons  ; 
thus  following  the  example  that  had  been  first 
set  them  by  Bonaparte,  who  took  care  to  renew 
it  on  all  occasions.  The  police  hunted  up  any  men 
who  still  dared  to  write  in  favour  of  the  dethroned 
princes,  with  the  utmost  zeal,  and  prosecuted  them 
with  unrelenting  severity. 

It  is,  however,  believed  that  about  the  same  time 
proposals  were  made  to  the  princes  on  the  part  of  the 

5  The  draft  of  the  act  on  th?  new  coinage  was  presented  to 
the  Legislative  Body  on  the  19th  Ventose,  year  XI.  Clause  xvi. 
enacts  that  the  head  of  the  First  Consul,  with  the  legend 
"  Bonaparte,  First  Consul,''  should  be  placed  on  one  of  the  faces 
of  the  coins. 


The,  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         49 

First  Consul  that  they  should  settle  down  in  certain 
distant  lands,  which  should  be  assigned  to  them  as 
their  own  property.6  It  was  even  proposed  to 
make  over  Louisiana  to  them,  and  the  King-  of 
Prussia  undertook  to  convey  the  offer  on  behalf  of 
Bonaparte.  Whether  this  method  of  negotiation  was 
seriously  contemplated  or  not,  it  is  very  easy  to 
perceive  Bonaparte's  motive  in  proposing  it,  and  the 
nature  of  the  advantage  he  would  have  derived  from 
its  success.  By  re-establishing  the  rank  and  order  of 
things  from  which  the  Bourbons  had  fallen,  he  was 
necessarily  about  to  give  a  more  serious  and  more 
legitimate  character  to  their  pretensions  than  they 
could  have  while  they  were  in  opposition  to  the 
Republic,  and,  the  situation  of  Europe  being  one  in 
which  both  violence  and  uncertainty  prevailed,  those 
pretensions  might  furnish  pretexts  for  a  fresh  war 
against  France.  Bonaparte  would  therefore  have 
done  a  merely  wise  and  prudent  thing  by  esta- 
blishing the  Bourbon  princes  in  one  of  the  far-off 
possessions  of  France,  while  the  act  would  have  had 
the  appearance  of  magnanimity.  But  the  reasons 
which  led  him  to  make  them  such  offers  were  precisely 
those  which  ensured  their  refusal  of  them.  Let  me 
return  to  the  position  of  the  Republic.  It  was  just 
this :  day  by  day  the  rumours  of  its  destruction 
increased  in  consistency,  and  were  more  widely  be- 
lieved. Already,  it  was  less  a  question  of  creating 
new  things  than  of  calling  those  things  that  had 
been  created  by  their  right  names. 

Two    unforeseen  events  occurred  to  interrupt  the 

6  [Marg.  note.]  "  This  is  a  fact,  and  it  is  even  true  that  hints 
were  given  on  the  subject  at  Lundville." 


50  The  Last  Days  of  tJie  Consulate . 

prosperity  of  Bonaparte,  and  to  suspend  the  execution 
of  his  projects.  The  first  was  the  news  of  the  dis- 
asters which  befell  the  French  army  at  St  Domingo, 
and  the  death  of  Leclerc.7  His  personal  sorrow  on 
this  occasion  might  well  be  softened  by  the  con- 
dolence of  the  great  bodies  of  the  State,  and  the  great 
display  that  was  made  of  mourning  for  the  individual 
of  whom  he  had  spoken  as  our  brother-in-law?  As 
for  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  the  picked  troops  of  the 
French  army,  which,  although  it  had  not  happened, 
was  foreseen  to  be  inevitable,  that  misfortune  might 
be  alleviated  by  the  reflection  that  those  picked  troops 
had  been  carefully  selected  among  the  soldiers  who 
had  been  victorious  under  Moreau  only. 

There  were,  however,  three  causes  which  rendered 
it  impossible  for  Bonaparte  to  regard  the  disastrous 
issue  of  the  expedition  to  St.  Domingo  a  sa  slight 
or  dubious  defeat.  These  were,  that  he  had  thrown 
away  nearly  25,000,000  of  francs  on  the  preparations 
for  it  ;  that  he  had  imprudently  lavished  insults 
and  threats  upon  a  race  cf  men  who  had  avenged 
themselves  ;  and  that  he  had  in  vain  restored  a 
code  of  inhuman  laws  upon  a  territory  which  seemed 
to  have  escaped  from  his  possession  for  ever. 

Nevertheless  it  is  evident  that  the  reverses  ex- 
perienced at  St.  Domingo  did  not  suspend  the 
cherished  designs  of  Bonaparte  for  long,  if  indeed 
they  postponed  them  for  a  single  moment.  A  mure 
serious  obstacle  shortly  arose  in  the  message  of  the 

7  General  Leclerc  died  on  the  3rd  of  November,  1802,  at 
St.  Domingo,  whither  his  wife,  Pauline  Bonaparte,  had  accom- 
panied him. 

8  [Marg.  note.]  '•  He  thought  that  merely  to  give  him  that 
name  was  to  render  him  illustrious." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  5 1 

King  of  England  to  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the 
8th  of  March,  1803  (17th  Ventose,  year  XL),  an- 
nouncing the  rupture  of  a  peace  which  was  not  yet 
a  year  old. 

England,  of  all  the  European  powers,  had  suffered 
the  least  by  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  lost  the 
least  in  those  resources  of  all  kinds  which  every  war 
must  of  necessity  consume.  England  possessed  more 
ample  means  than  any  other  country  of  renewing  the 
strife  so  recently  terminated,  and  was  the  most  dis- 
posed to  do  so  from  the  special  character  of  its 
government ;  nevertheless  it  will  certainly  be  regarded 
by  future  historians  as  a  strange  phenomenon  in 
politics  that  so  active  a  war,  one  in  which  so  m?ny 
men  had  perished  and  so  much  wealth  had  been  com- 
sumed — a  war,  too,  whose  issue  had  fulfilled  the  in- 
tentions of  the  enemies  of  France — could  have  begun 
again  after  so  short  a  truce,  and  one  that  had  not 
even  been  very  complete. 

Nothing  is  so  striking  in  the  consideration  of  this 
war,  or  rather,  renewed  war,  as  the  evident  con- 
trast between  the  motives  put  forward  as  leading 
ones,  and  the  gravity  of  those  which  were  alleged 
to  be  merely  accessory  or  subordinate.  The  two 
Governments  appeared  to  be  disputing  with  each 
other  about  a  barren  rock  in  the  Mediterranean, 
but  they  were  actually  disputing  the  privilege  of 
exercising — each  in  its  own  way  and  in  opposite 
directions, — a  sort  of  preponderance  in  the  interests, 
the  affairs,  and  even  in  certain  respects  in  the 
civilization  of  Europe. 

Bonaparte  had  not  waited,  in  order  to  find  fault 
with  England,  until  the  Government  of  Great  Britain 
E  2 


52  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

refused  to  fulfil  the  clause  of  the  Treaty  of  Amiens 
concerning  the  restitution  of  Malta.  From  the 
earliest  days  of  the  peace  he.  had  regarded  the  free- 
dom of  English  opinion  and  judgment  upon  him  as  a 
continuation  of  hostility.  It  was  not  enough  for 
him  to  be  delivered  from  the  English  fleet  and  its 
admirals,  unless  he  were  at  the  same  time  relieved 
of  the  English  press  and  its  journalists.  He  found 
it  excessively  inconvenient  to  have  to  wage  a  new 
kind  of  war  against  these  swarming  foes,  a  war  in 
which  he  had  to  turn  journalist  himself.  lie  had 
given  expression  to  his  displeasure  with  what  he 
called  u  the  licence "  of  English  newspapers  and 
parliamentary  debates.  He  had  even  been  so 
foolish  as  to  tender  indirect  advice  to  the  British 
Government  to  repress  that  licence,  and  had  carried 
his  anger  and  folly  to  the  point  of  upbraiding  the 
King  of  England  and  his  ministers  for  tolerating  it, 
while  he  had  set  them  an  example  which  they  would 
do  well  to  follow,  by  suppressing  certain  writings 
insulting  to  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  that 
had  been  printed  in  France  without  his  orders  or  his 
knowledge. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  he  had  instituted 
judicial  proceedings,  through  his  ambassador,  against 
one  Peltier,  a  French  "  ^mi^re  "  who  lived  in  London 
on  the  profits  of  an  anti-French  newspaper."  This  pro- 

9  Jean  Gabriel  Peltier,  born  at  Nantes,  died  in  Paris  in  March, 
1825.  His  Royalist  writings,  and  his  contributions  to  the  Actes 
(Us  Afiotres,  forced  him  to  leave  France  after  the  10th  of  August. 
He  retired  to  London,  where  he  continued  to  publish  pamphlets 
and  newspapers  against  the  French  Government.  Among  these 
were  I.c  Courtier  d Europe,  Le  C<  urrier  de  Londres,  and 
VA mbigu,  Variitcs  atroces  et  amusantes.    It  was  probably  for  the 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         53 

secution  had  aroused  a  great  public  scandal,  and  had 
injuriously  affected  the  honour  and  glory  of  Bona- 
parte, without  affording  him  the  hardly  heroic  and 
indeed  scarcely  prudent  satisfaction  of  revenge  upon 
a  person  to  whose  malignant  assertions  he  merely 
gave  importance  by  taking  any  notice  of  them. 
However,  the  fact  was  that  the  mere  existence  and 
vicinity  of  a  country  in  which  every  individual  might 
assume  the  right  to  judge  his  (Bonaparte's)  character 
and  conduct  as  he  pleased,  with  impunity,  and  whose 
united  voice  echoed  throughout  the  whole  world, 
formed  a  perpetual  source  of  exasperation  to  him, 
and  was  an  irremovable  obstacle. 

From  this  it  may  be  supposed  how  deep  and  bitter 
was  his  resentment  against  the  Government  of  that 
country,  when  it  set  itself  to  oppose  the  designs  which 
he  had  formed,  and  declared  war  at  the  exact  moment 
when  he  was  about  to  cull  the  last  and  sweetest 
fruits  of  the  brief  peace. 

At  this  point  it  becomes  necessary  to  a  correct 
understanding  of  the  respective  grievances  of  the 
British  Cabinet  and  the  First  Consul,  that  I  should 
briefly  summarize  the  foreign  policy  of  the  latter,  and 
his  views  upon  those  countries  in  which  he  exercised 
influence  that  was  the  combined  result  of  the  various 
chances  of  the  Revolution. 

Bonaparte  had  formed  the  project  of  uniting  and 
concentrating    in    his    own    hands,  not   only  all   the 

latter  journal,  which  began  in  1803,  that  Peltier  was  prosecuted 
before  an  English  court  by  the  Consular  Government.  This 
ill-advised  proceeding,  which  made  a  great  sensation,  aroused 
public  opinion  in  England  against  Bonaparte.  Peltier  was 
sentenced  to  pay  only  small  damages  and  the  costs,  and  the 
amount  was  immediately  covered  by  a  public  subscription. 


54  The  Last  Days  of  tfie  Consulate. 

authority  of  the  French  Republic  from  within,  but 
also  all  its  influence  upon  neighbouring  countries,  and 
from  the  execution  of  that  project  there  necessarily 
resulted  a  state  of  things  very  strange  in  itself,  and 
in  relation  to  the  common  notion  of  the  political 
balance  of  Europe.1 

Several  state-,  all  independent  of  each  other,  and 
each  governed  by  its  own  laws,  were  to  form  the 
various  portions  of  one  and  the  same  empire,  under 
the  rule  of  one  and  the  same  hereditary  and  absolute 
chief,  who  should  have  a  special  right  over,  and  a 
particular  title  in  each  of  these  different  districts  of 
his  dominion.  This  would  be  a  shadow  or  revival  of 
the  empire  of  Charlemagne.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  from  an  early  date,  Bonaparte  should  1 
adopted  Charlemagne  as  one  of  his  favourite  hen 
his  pride  had  long  been  pleasantly  fostered  by  the 
parallel  drawn  between  himself  and  the  great 
mediaeval  monarch.  No  parallel  was  more  fre- 
quently repeated  by  his  flatterers,  under  circum- 
stances in  which  it  was  more  easy  to  discern  its 
motives  than  to  foresee  its  consequent 

It  is  true  that  Bonaparte  could  not  have  hoped  to 
secure  a  realm  so  vast  as  that  which  owned  the  sway 
of  Pepin's  son  ;  but  the  glory  of  founding  one  of 
his  own,  in  spite  of  the  interests  and  opinions  of  now 


:  [Marg.  note.]  w  Bring  out  this  general  idea,  that  in  his  opera- 
tions upon  the  interior  of  France,  the  foreign  powers  had  several 
reasons  for  being  well  pleased  with  Bonaparte  ;  for  he  had 
crushed  one  of  those  results  of  the  Revolution  from  which  they 
had  most  to  fear.  Also  that  he  had  not  begun  to  displease  them 
until  he  revealed  his  pretensions  outside  of  France,  by  his  im- 
prudently displayed  ambition  in  the  direction  of  certain  foreign 
countries." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  5  5 

existing  Europe,  must  have  more  than  compensated 
him  for  an  inferiority  of  that  kind. 

If  this  scheme,  whose  execution,  although  in  the 
initiatory  stage  only,  had  begun  to  encounter  some 
obstacles,  and  had  even  undergone  several  important 
modifications  already,  proved  finally  successful  in 
Bonaparte's  hands,  an  entirely  new  spectacle  would 
be  witnessed  in  history.  An  empire  which,  with- 
out being  founded  upon  either  the  real  consent  of 
the  nations  composing  it  or  even  upon  conquest, 
would  carry  the  world  back  to  those  barbarous 
times  when  peoples,  separate  in  interests,  customs, 
and  laws,  became  the  common  property  of  a  con- 
queror, who  was  as  many  times  over  a  despot  as  he 
numbered  states  bearing  his  yoke.  It  would  seem 
that  no  political  project  could  be  more  contrary  to 
the  present  spirit  of  European  civilization  than  this 
one.  For  a  long  time  past,  the  various  powers,  while 
aggrandizing  themselves,  had  tended  only  to  unite 
greater  masses  of  men  under  one  and  the  same  system 
of  administration  and  law.  The  actual  effect  of 
conquests  in  Europe  is  to  diminish  the  political 
barriers  by  which  the  population  of  Europe  is  divided, 
and  the  sum  of  national  interests  are  placed  in  oppo- 
sition or  discord.  The  project  of  Bonaparte  would  of 
necessity  have  a  contrary  influence,  and  would  restore 
to  despotism  those  mighty  resources  which  the  pro- 
gress of  reason  and  education  had  led  us  to  believe 
as  well  as  to  hope  had  been  wrested  from  its  grasp 
for  ever. 

Bonaparte,  in  forming  this  plan,  which  appears  to 
be  vast,  but  is  only  insensate,  could  not  indeed 
reckon  upon  the  approbation,  or  even  the  indifference, 


56  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

of  the  kings  of  Europe  ;  but  he  counted  upon  their 
recent  losses,  and  the  discredit  with  their  respec- 
tive peoples  into  which  the  ill-success  of  their  league 
against  France  had  brought  them.  He  had  more 
direct  and  positive  ground  for  confidence  in  his 
alliance  with  Paul  I.,  in  whom  he  had  found  a  support 
for  his  plans  and  perhaps  an  accomplice  in  them. 
Besides,  he  also  had  a  chance  of  success  and  a 
resource  to  employ  with  those  powers  who  were 
interested  in  opposing  the  execution  of  his  designs, 
and  possessed  the  means  of  attempting  to  do  so ; 
this  was,  to  propose  that  they  should  imitate  his 
example,  and  to  guarantee  them  the  possession  of 
such  territories  as  suited  them  and  upon  which  they 
might  seize  unopposed.  This  chance  was  certainly 
very  vague,  and  its  success  implied  the  overcoming  of 
a  great  many  difficulties.  But  the  idea  would  not  be 
tiie  first  scandalous  one  that  certain  Governments 
have  borrowed  from  Bonaparte,  nor  the  first  injustice 
in  which  they  have  been  encouraged  by  his  example. 
The  island  of  Elba2  was  the  first  territory  annexed 
to  France  by  the  will  of  Bonaparte,  and  without  any 
pretext  except  the  actual  occupation  of  the  island. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  much  more  important 
transaction  of  the  same  kind,  and  the  prelude  to  it. 
I  allude  to  the  annexation  of  Piedmont,  which  was 
proclaimed  by  a  Senatus-consultum  of  the  24th 
Fructidor,year  X.,  twelve  days  after  that  of  the  island 
of  Elba.  Although  Bonaparte  experienced  no  diffi- 
culty in  dispossessing  the  King  of  Sardinia  of  the 
richest  and  most  considerable  portion  of  his  states, 
— neither  Austria   nor  England  having  insisted   upon 

2  The  Senatus-consultum  proclaiming  this  annexation  is  dated 
the  26th  of  August,  1S02. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  57 

the  interests  of  that  sovereign  in  the  conditions  of  the 
peace — nevertheless  it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the 
union  of  Piedmont  with  France,  after  the  completion 
of  all  the  treaties  and  without  the  guarantee  of  any 
could  not  fail  to  figure  among  the  causes  or  the 
pretexts  of  war,  in  case  of  the  renewal  of  war  with 
any  power  whatever,  even  with  those  powers  who 
had  betrayed  the  interests  of  the  King  of  Sardinia. 

In  the  unions  of  territories  that  had  taken  place 
under  the  Convention,  the  vote  of  the  united  peoples 
was  the  title  by  which  the  Republic  legalized  the 
extension  of  its  frontiers.  History  must  admit  that 
in  the  majority  of  cases  that  vote  was  obtained  either 
by  force  or  by  more  or  less  transparent  intrigue  ;  yet 
there  was  a  spirit  of  justice  and  magnanimity  in  the 
principle  which  regarded  the  will  of  the  people  as  the 
only  legitimate  ground  for  aggrandizement  of  terri- 
tory, that  could  not  fail  to  strike  even  those  whose 
interests  and  prejudices  had  to  suffer  from  its  appli- 
cation. Bonaparte,  who  did  not  desire  to  aggrandize 
the  Republic,  but  merely  wanted  to  multiply  his  own 
domains,  held  that  he  needed  no  title  more  specious 
than  the  decrees  of  the  Senate  to  justify  the  two 
operations  to  which  I  have  just  referred  ;  and  this  at 
a  time  when  no  one  could  pretend  to  regard  the 
Senate  as  anything  but  the  special  instrument  of 
one  arbitrary  will.  But  if  he  did  not  call  for  the 
suffrages  of  the  inhabitants  of  Piedmont,  in  order 
to  authorize  them  to  declare  themselves  French, 
he  at  least  solicited  their  thanks  after  he  had 
spontaneously  done  them  that  favour.  It  was 
not  enough  for  him  to  receive  addresses  full 
of  exaggerated  expressions  of  thanks  from  all 
the    towns    in    Piedmont,    which    had    been    got    up 


58  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

by  the  zeal  of  General  Jourdan,3  the  then  adminis- 
trator of  that  country.  Deputies  from  each  of  the 
Transalpine  Departments  came  to  thank  him  formally 
for  the  union  of  their  country  with  France.  His  reply 
to  the  address  of  these  deputies  was  not  published 
in  the  newspapers  ;  but  it  contained  one  phrase  that 
was  remarkable,  inasmuch  as  it  revealed  the  kind  of 
ideas  and  cares  which  at  that  time  filled  his  mind. 

He  may  have  only  wished  to  moderate  the  surprise 
that  the  annexation  of  Piedmont  to  France  must 
needs  create  in  Europe,  or  he  may  have  intended  to 
give  a  glimpse  of  the  scheme  of  which  this  step  was 
only  the  prelude ;  however  that  may  have  been, 
he  told  the  Picdmontese  deputies  that  as  their 
country  had  formerly  made  a  part  of  France,  the  re- 
membrance of  this  fact  should  make  the  reunion, 
which  was  in  every  way  so  glorious  and  desirable  for 
them,  quite  simple  and  natural. 

It  was  true  that  Piedmont  had  formerly  made  a 
part,  not  precisely  of  France,  but  of  the  I^mpire  of 
Charlemagne ;  and  Bonaparte  made  this  significant 
observation  at  the  moment  when  the  creation  of  an 
"  Empire  of  the  Gauls  "  was  most  talked  of;  for  this 
was  one  of  the  denominations  by  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  designate  his  realm,  when  he  had  destroyed 
the  Republic.  Hardly  had  Piedmont  been  declared 
a  part  of  France,  ere  Bonaparte  proceeded  to  deal 
with  the  affairs  of  Switzerland. 

s  Jourdan  was  a  member  of  the  Legislntive  Body  on  the  18th 
Brumaire.  He  was  excluded  from  it  as  an  of>f>osant  on  the  very 
clay  of  the  coup  d'etat,  and  detained  for  some  time  in  the  depart- 
ment  of  Charente-  Inlnieure.  Several  months  after,  on  the  24th 
of  July,  1800,  he  accepted  the  post  of  Minister-Extraordinary  in 
Piedmont. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  59 


CHAPTER  II. 

NOTES  ON  THE  PRINCIPAL  EVENTS  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  CONSPIRACY  PRIOR  TO  THE  ARREST 
OF   MOREAU. 

At  the  beginning  of  year  XII.,  preparations  for 
war  with  England  were  going  on  as  actively  as  ever ; 
the  newspapers  dealt  in  reiterated  denunciations 
of  the  Modern  Carthage ;  everything  was  being 
made  ready  for  the  invasion,  and  if  any  relaxation  of 
activity  at  all  was  apparent  or  suspected,  it  might 
naturally  be  attributed  to  the  obstacles  presented  by 
the  season.  Bonaparte  had  caused  a  medal  to  com- 
memorate his  "  descent "  to  be  struck  by  Denon  ; 
this  work  represented  a  Hercules  strangling  a  Triton 
whom  he  had  flung  down  at  his  feet,  and  bore  on  the 
opposite  side  the  effigy  of  the  First  Consul.  This 
is  probably  the  very  first  medal  ever  struck  as  the 
presage  and  prophecy  of  a  future  event  ;  medals  are 
generally  supposed  to  be  commemorative  of  past 
achievement.  The  common  talk  among  the  persons 
about  Bonaparte  was  of  the  objects  of  art  which 
England  possessed,  and  of  which  among  them 
were  held  worthy  of  being  added  to  the  art-treasures 
of  France.  Grave  discussions  were  entered  into  in 
detail,  upon  the    measures  which   were  to  be   taken 


60  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

for  governing  England  as  a  conquest,  and  the 
official  journal,  which  could  only  repeat  the  words,  or 
at  least  express  the  ideas,  of  the  chief  of  the  State 
upon  that  point,  had  more  than  once  affected  to 
compute  all  that  so  civilized  a  country  as  England, 
invaded  by  an  enemy  such  as  France,  could  lo.^e. 
Thus,  if  by  any  chance  the  English  had  been  disposed 
to  regard  Bonaparte's  descent  upon  their  coasts  as 
dangerous  to  their  liberty  only,  they  would  have 
learned  from  the  mouth  of  their  enemy  himself  that 
it  was  their  property  and  their  social  existence  they 
must  be  ready  to  defend.1 

But  while  threats  of  every  kind  were  thus  hurled 
at  England,  and  the  future  ruin  of  the  British  Empire 
was  foretold  in  every  variety  of  tone,  the  present  ills 
and  inconveniences  of  war  made  themselves  sensibly 
felt.  One  half  of  a  merchant-fleet  that  had  not  had 
time  to  get  into  port  before  the  rupture  between  the 
two  countries  became  known,  had  been  captured  by 
the  English.  The  result  of  this  catastrophe,  and  of 
the  sudden  interruption  of  the  circulation  of  capital, 
was  a  number  of  bankruptcies,  the  amount  being 
estimated  for  Paris  only  at  more  than  eighty  millions 
(francs).  Industry  had  been  suddenly  arrested  in 
its  enterprises,  and  commerce  in  its  speculations. 
Agriculture  experienced  losses  proportionate  with 
those  of  commerce  and  industry  on  account  of  the 
too  low  price  of  grain. 

1  Bonaparte  had  a  newspaper,  the  Argus,  in  his  pay  in 
London,  and  he  continually  had  extracts  from  it  inserted  in  the 
French  journals.  See,  among  others,  in  the  Journal  <U  Paris 
of  the  i oth  and  17th  Vend&niaire,  year  XII.,  pp.  v$  and  103, 
the  article  entitled,  "  Des  Suites  probables  de  la  Descente  en 
Angletcnv." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  61 

The  only  very  strong  and  sincere  public  feeling 
was  that  which  these  losses  excited.  There  was 
some  vague  uneasiness  respecting  both  the  acknow- 
ledged and  the  secret  plans  of  Bonaparte.  People 
murmured  secretly  at  his  ambition  and  his  pro- 
jects, and  ridiculed  the  proposed  "  descent ;"  for 
everybody  was  privately  incredulous  of  the  success 
of  that  enterprise  ;  even  the  journalists  who  day 
after  day  proclaimed  the  approaching  destruction 
of  "Carthage,"  and  the  generals  who  were  already 
talking,  with  a  rapacity  which  they  assumed  in  order 
to  flatter  the  chief  of  the  State,  of  the  immense  spoils 
that  were  to  be  the  reward  of  their  coming  conquest. 
Otherwise  the  public  mind  seemed  calm.  According 
to  the  Government,  the  whole  nation  was  pervaded  by 
but  one  idea,  and  animated  by  one  single  feeling, 
dominant  in  every  class  ;  the  desire  of  vengeance  upon 
perfidious  England  for  the  scandalous  violation  of 
the  treaties.  According  to  the  majority  of  those  who 
spoke  of  public  affairs,  the  Government  was  ex- 
clusively occupied  with  one  single  object,  that  of 
securing  the  success  of  the  expedition  against 
England. 

Nevertheless,  this  was  not  the  case.  Behind  the 
stir  and  bustle  of  the  military  preparations  against 
England,  Bonaparte  concealed  preparations  of  another 
kind,2  whose  results  were  to  be  more  speedy  and  more 
certain.  Under  the  silence  of  the  nation,  so  like  that 
apathy  in  which  the  evils  of  servitude  are  still  felt, 


2  [Marg.  note.]  "The  idea  with  which  Bonaparte  was 
occupied,  was  that  of  changing  the  government  into  an  absolute 
monarchy.  He  was  resolved,  having  missed  his  aim  in  year 
XL,  in  his  journey  to  Belgium,  to  make  no  more  delay  " 


62  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

but  not  its  shame,  certain  party  manoeuvres  were 
hidden.  These  were  not  very  formidable  in  them- 
selves, but  they  became  so  when  aided  by  an  external 
and  superior  force  which  gave  them  an  artificial 
impulse  in  the  first  instance,  in-  order  to  lay  hold 
upon  them  more  readily  afterwards. 

At  this  point  it  becomes  necessary  to  give  a  brief 
explanation  of  the  pretensions,  the  personal  capacities, 
and  the  respective  situation  of  the  different  parties.3 
The  Royalist  party,  to  which  it  would  seem  that  Bona- 
parte's project  (by  that  time  well  known)  to  reconstruct 
the  throne  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Republic  must  needs 
give  fresh  strength,  and,  so  to  speak,  an  entirely  new 
life,  was,  on  the  contrary,  becoming  weaker  and 
weaker.  The  division  that  had  taken  place  at  an 
early  period  between  Louis  XVIII.  and  the  Count 
d'Artois  had  become  confirmed.  That  which  the 
one  did  at  Warsaw  the  other  censured  in  London,  and 
each  of  the  princes  had  a  Council  which,  though 
entertaining  the  same  views,  were  perpetually  dis- 
agreeing upon  the  means  to  be  adopted  ;  so  that  both 
were  in  the  habit  of  hiding  their  respective  plans  and 
proceedings  from  each  other  as  closely  as  possible, 
and  of  employing  agents  in  France  who  held  no  inter- 
communication and  pursued  different  methods.  The 
party  of  Louis  XVIII.  was  naturally  the  stronger,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  (at  least  nominal)  superiority 
of  that  prince's  dignity,  but  (and  especially)  because 


3  [Marg.  note.]  "  It  is  indispensable  to  observe  two  circum- 
stances which  were  calculated  to  give  all  the  authority  possible 
to  the  parties  existing  at  this  period  relatively  to  their  capacity, 
(i)  The  state  of  war  with  England.  (2)  The  certain  knowledge 
of  the  First  Consul's  plan  for  changing  the  form  of  the 
government." 


ERSf 

OF 

he  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         63 

the  French  Royalists  were  generally  agreed  in  attri- 
buting to  him  more  moderate  views  upon  the  terms 
of  his  return  to  France.  Nevertheless,  the  renewal 
of  the  war  in  year  XI.  had  restored  some  apparent 
importance  to  the  Count  d'Artois  and  his  council. 
At  the  first  rumour  of  the  rupture  he  had  hastened 
from  Edinburgh  to  London,  and  offered  his  services  to 
the  English  Government  with  as  much  petulance  and 
pretension  as  though  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
serve  it.  The  mere  fact  that  the  Count  d'Artois  was 
in  contact  with  the  English  Government  would  give 
some  preponderance  to  his  party  over  that  of  Louis 
XVII I.,  at  least  while  England  continued  to  be  the 
only  power  at  war  with  France  ;  because  the  latter 
prince  could  only  act  from  Warsaw  ;  that  is  to  say, 
from  the  headquarters  of  a  power  that  rendered 
Bonaparte  an  insincere  homage,  it  is  true,  but  homage 
so  marked  and  frequent  that  it  was  quite  as  useful 
to  him  as  if  it  had  been  genuine. 

This  division  between  the  two  heads  of  the  Royalist 
party  was  not  the  only  one  that  existed.  A  third 
party  had  been  formed,  at  the  expense  of  the  two 
others,  in  favour  of  the  Duke  d'Enghien.  This  young 
prince,  who  united  greatness  of  mind  and  nobility  of 
character  to  several  brilliant  qualities,  had  become  the 
idol  of  many  royalists,  who,  while  persevering  in  a 
hitherto  unfortunate  cause,  imputed  all  its  humiliations 
and  reverses  to  the  want  of  capacity,  character,  and 
courage  in  Louis  XVIII.  and  his  brother,  and  thought 
its  success  would  be  certain  under  another  chief. 
This  party  was  increasing  daily,  and  gaining  deserters 
from  the  other  two  parties,  who  agreed  in  regarding 
Louis  XVIII.  as  too  weak,  and  the   Count  d'Artois 


64  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

as  too  ridiculous,  because  he  kept  up  the  petulant 
presumption  that  only  success  could  justify,  while  his 
position  was  that  of  a  beaten  and  fallen  man.  This  is 
a  fact  attested  by  the  correspondence  of  the  French 
Royalists  who  had  remained  out  of  France,  and  by 
the  plain  utterances  of  many  who  had  long  since 
returned  to  their  country. 

As  for  the  Orleans  family,  if  they  had  then,  or 
have  now,  any  partisans,  which  I  greatly  doubt, 
those  partisans  were  not,  and  are  not,  to  be  found 
among  true  royalists. 

At  the  beginning  of  year  XII.,  the  royalists  of 
Warsaw  and  those  of  London  each  had  their 
separate  and  independent  agents  in  London.  The 
agents  of  Louis  XVIII.  were  very  few  in  number, 
and  at  the  head  of  them  was  Baron  de  la 
Rochefoucauld,  and,  I  think,  a  M.  de  Roquefcuille. 
They  formed  a  committee  whose  operations  were 
restricted  to  correspondence  with  Louis  XVIII.  on 
the  actual  and  possible  state  of  France.  Hut  the 
members  of  this  committee  had  not,  according  to  all 
appearances,  either  the  relations,  the  credit,  or  the 
character  that  could  have  made  conspirators  of  them. 
Certain  persons  even  went  so  far  as  to  doubt  the 
sincerity  of  the  zeal  of  the  men  who  composed  it  for 
the  cause  of  Louis  XVIII. 

The  party  of  the  Count  d'Artois  in  France  was 
much  better  organized,  more  numerous,  and  stronger. 
Georges  4  had  landed  in  France   near  the  end  of  year 

4  Georges  Cadoudal,  generally  designated  by  his  Christian 
name,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  Chouan  chiefs,  was  the 
son  of  a  miller  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Auray.  After  having 
accepted  the  pacification  (9th  of  February,  1800),  he  went  to 
Paris,  where  he  saw  Bonaparte.     On  the    14th  Ventose,  year 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Co7isulate.         65 

X.,  with  a  certain  number  of  agents,  and  these  were 
quickly  followed  by  others.  It  is  too  soon  to  speak 
of  this  party  so  as  to  convey  an  idea  of  its  real 
strength ;  it  suffices  at  this  point  to  record  its 
existence. 

A  second  party,  which  seemed  to  have  recovered 
some  of  its  activity  at  about  the  same  period,  was 
that  one  generally  called  the  Jacobin  party,  and 
entirely  composed  of  men  who,  although  their  con- 
duct in  the  most  deplorable  events  of  the  Revolution 
had  been  widely  different,  were  all  agreed,  if  not  in 
their  ideas  upon  the  Revolution,  at  least  in  the  in- 
tensity of  their  feelings  with  respect  to  it.  These 
men  had  been  deprived  of  place  and  credit,  firstly, 
by  the  events  that  ensued  upon  the  9th  Thermidor, 
then  by  the  Directory,  and  lastly  by  the  Revolution 
of  the  18th  Brumaire ;  they  had  no  real  influence, 
and  w<re  objects  of  general  odium  ;  but  they 
were  still  strong  in  numbers,  and  in  the  obstinacy 
that  always  goes  with  exaltation  of  feeling  in  igno- 
rant minds,  and  they  had  not  renounced  all  hope, 
ii  not  of  recovering  their  former  weight,  at  least  of 
witnessing  a  change  in  the  order  of  things  that  had 
been  established  in  France  by  the  18th  Brumaire. 

The  Jacobins  had  been  the  first  to  attack  the  hero 
of  that  day,   and  they  did   not  confine  themselves  to 

VIII.,  Bonaparte  wrote  to  General  Brune  :  "I  saw  Georges  this 
morning.  He  appears  to  me  to  be  a  big  Breton,  whom  it  will, 
perhaps,  be  possible  to  make  use  of  for  the  interests  of  the 
country.''  Georges  Cadoudal,  however,  refused  his  offers,  and 
retired  to  England.  He  came  back  from  thence,  it  is  said,  to 
prepare  for  the  execution  of  the  attempt  on  the  3rd  Nivose,  and 
afterwards  returned.  He  landed  in  France  with  Pichegru,  in 
August,  1803,  and  was  not  arrested  until  the  9th  of  the  following 
March.     He  will  be  referred  to  farther  on. 

F 


66  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

predicting  that  he  would  infallibly  become  a  tyrant, 
having  every  imaginable  means  of  doing  so  placed 
within  his  reach,  but  from  the  very  first  hour  of  his 
power  they  regarded  him  as  a  tyrant.  The  first 
pamphlets,  the  first  satirical  songs  against  Bona- 
parte were  written  by  them,  and  the  first  arbitrary 
acts  of  the  Consular  Government,  the  first  deeds  of 
dubious  justice  by  which  its  severity  was  revealed,  fell 
upon  that  party.' 

The  Jacobins  were  more  and  more  persecuted,  and 
had  become  weaker  in  proportion,  but  the  party 
could  not  be  regarded  as  destroyed.  They  had  two 
or  three  presses  in  their  possession,  and  they  printed 
pamphlets  which  were  sometimes  distributed  to  the 
public  by  clandestine  means,  but  more  frequently 
circulated  among  themselves  only.  It  seems  to  me 
worthy  of  remark  that  their  experience  of  events,  far 
from  having  cooled  the  ardour  of  their  ideas  and 
sentiments,  had  but  confirmed  them  in  their  passionate 
love  of  liberty.  In  Bonaparte's  Government  they  re- 
cognized the  best  justification  of  their  political  prin- 
ciples and  sentiments.  They  knew  that  they  loved 
and  recognized  liberty,  by  the  strength  of  the  instinct 
which  led  them  to  revolt  against  tyranny.  They  had 
several  committees,  at  which  those  assembled  who 
still  cherished  the  project  of  a  complete  restoration  of 
their  party,  or  who  believed  that  some  concert 
between  them  was  necessary  to  preserve  them  from 
the  machinations  of  a  power  which  hated  them,  and 
had  on  several  occasions  treated  them  with  severity 
as  arbitrary  as  it  was  cruel.     But  these  councils  were 

*  [Mar£.  note.]  "  Sentence  of  transportation  upon  D'Arena 
and  Ceracche',  3rd  Niv6se.'> 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         67 

summoned  much  more  for  the  purpose  of  communi- 
cating the  well  founded  fear  with  which  the  Govern* 
ment  inspired  the  Jacobins,  than  the  vain  hopes  of 
seeing  it  overthrown  in  which  they  sometimes  in- 
dulged. 

I  have  now  to  speak  of  a  third  party,  almost  as 
widely  divided  from  the  other  two,  and  much  more 
numerous  than  both  put  together.  I  allude  to  the 
Republican  party,  and  here  I  must  avoid  the  obscurity 
and  vagueness  that  attend  on  the  employment  of  ill- 
defined  words,  especially  of  those  which  have  fallen 
into  popular  misuse. 

In  what  sense  can  it  be  said  that  there  was  a  Re- 
publican party  at  the  period  in  question  ?  What  is 
to  be  understood  by  a  Republican  party  ? 

At  this  period,  the  spirit  of  the  Government  was 
assuredly  no  more  republican  than  was  that  of  the 
Sublime  Porte  ;  but  its  language  was  still  republican 
in  certain  respects,  and  the  institutions  of  the  country 
were  republican  in  form,  if  not  in  action  and  result. 
In  a  word,  France  was  held  to  be  a  republic,  and  its 
constitution,  said  to  have  been  accepted  by  more  than 
three  millions  of  votes,  was  republican  in  its  forms, 
even  after  the  temporary  First  Consul  had  become 
First  Consul  for  life. 

It  would  seem  that  in  speaking  of  a  Republican 
party  at  that  period,  one  must  needs  refer  to  the  whole 
nation  itself;  but  it  is  not  in  this  sense  that  I  mean  to 
speak  of  a  Republican  party ;  for  the  nation,  as  a 
whole,  had  only  a  vague  presentiment  of  Bonaparte's 
intentions,  and  a  still  more  vague  notion  of  the 
consequences  that  might  result  from  them  to  the 
tranquillity  of  France  and  Europe. 

F  2 


68  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

I  mean  by  "a  Republican  Party"  only  the  sum- 
total  of  those  who,  foreseeing  ruin,  desired  to  prevent 
it,  whether  they  had  or  had  not  capacity  or  cou- 
rage to  do  so.  I  will  add  that  I  comprehend  under 
that  head,  all  those  who  regarded  liberty  as  possible 
in  France,  who  believed  that  the  existence  of  a 
national  representation  voting  laws  and  taxes  might 
suffice  for  all  the  need  and  all  the  love  of  liberty 
which  the  nation  still  retained,  and  be  compatible 
with  a  single  magistracy  invested  with  the  executive 
power  for  life,  but  not  hereditary.  In  short,  all  who 
regarded  the  constitution  of  year  VIII.,  notwith- 
standing the  violation  and  alteration  it  had  under- 
gone, as  a  guarantee  of  such  an  amount  of  liberty 
as  was  possible  after  the  ills  and  excesses  of  the 
Revolution. 

That  which  made  the  great  difference  between  this 
party  and  the  two  preceding  parties,  was  at  the  same 
time  that  which  seemed  to  constitute  its  superiority 
in  strength,  and  its  advantage  of  position.  It  had  a 
centre,  a  rallying-point,  so  to  speak  a  representation, 
in  one  of  the  authorities  of  the  state  ;  in  precisely 
that  authority  indeed  which  had  been  created  to 
secure  the  maintenance  of  the  republican  consti- 
tution. It  will  be  seen,  and  I  hope  to  make  it 
plain,  that  this  advantage  was  a  pure  illusion,  but 
that  very  illusion  forms  a  portion  of  the  data  upon 
which  a  sound  judgment  of  subsequent  events  may 
be  formed,  and  their  causes  estimated. 

Almost  all  the  men  who  had  been  placed  in 
authority  after  the  revolution  of  the  18th  Brumaire, 
were  reputed  friends  of  liberty  and  the  Republic 
Almost   all    those  who  had  co-operated    upon    that 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  69 

famous  day  had  repented  on  the  morrow,  for  they 
were  enlightened  by  Bonaparte's  first  words  after 
the  victory  as  to  what  its  consequences  would 
be.  A  party  of  decided  opposition  was  very  soon 
formed  in  the  Senate,  the  Tribunate,  and  the  Legis- 
lative Body.  I  have  already  alluded  to  what  was 
done  by  the  Tribunate  and  the  Legislative  Body  in 
order  to  frustrate  this  opposition.  A  different  method 
of  producing  a  similar  effect  was  adopted  in  the  case 
of  the  Senate.  By  the  Senatus-consultum  of  the 
2 1st  Thermidor,  year  X.,  Bonaparte  reserved  to 
himself  the  right  of  convoking  the  Senate  ;  he  had 
thus  made  himself  its  natural  and  perpetual  president, 
and  he  had  added  to  it  a  certain  number  of  members 
selected  among  his  own  family  and  his  own  syco- 
phants. The  Senate,  having  already  lost  its  constitu- 
tional strength  by  passing  acts  that  were  in  reality 
attacks  upon  the  constitution,  could  no  longer  oppose 
an  effectual  barrier  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
arbitrary  power  which  had  got  hold  of  every- 
thing, including  the  Senate  itself.  The  opposition 
which  had  existed  in  that  body  since  its  origin, 
although  aK.ays  in  a  minority,  was,  nevertheless, 
tolerably  strong.  It  had  numbered  twenty  members 
at  a  time  when  the  Senate  was  composed  of  only 
about  fifty  ;  but  fear,  feebleness,  and  corruption  had 
speedily  reduced  it  to  fourteen  or  fifteen.  When 
the  life-consulship  was  carried,  the  opposition  had 
dwindled  to  seven  or  eight,  and  we  shall  find  it 
afterwards  still  smaller  in  number  and  more  in- 
significant. 

However,  weak  as  it  was,  this  party  made  Bona- 
parte very  anxious  and  uneasy,  and  his  apprehensions 


JO  The  Last  D  ays  of  the  Consulate. 

might  have  proved  well  founded  if  only  eight  or  ten 
men  could  have  screwed  up  their  courage  to  the 
point  of  interrupting  the  flattery  and  subservience 
by  which  Bonaparte's  enterprises  were  aided,  by  a 
solemn  protest,  and  the  simultaneous  resignation  of 
their  seats. 

The  foregoing  brief  sketch  of  the  various  parties 
then  in  declared  or  secret  opposition  to  Bonaparte's 
plans,  will  have  made  it  evident  that  none  of  them 
were  very  formidable,  not  only  for  want  of  resolution 
and  capacity,  but  still  more  for  reasons  presently  to 
be  disclosed. 

The  principal  cause  of  the  weakness  of  these  parties 
was  the  lack  of  a  leader  who  would  have  had  the 
national  feeling  in  his  favour.  It  was  indispensable 
to  their  success  to  have  a  standpoint  in  the  nation 
or  in  the  army  ;  now,  the  nation,  although  discon- 
tented, could  not  take  any  real  interest  in  projects 
whose  object  was  either  the  restoration  of  its  former 
rulers,  or  the  preservation  of  liberty  which  it  was  pre- 
pared to  resign  ;  hence  it  had  not  enough  energy  to 
favour  any  particular  party.  The  army  had  retained 
more  of  its  former  character,  but  among  its  famous 
generals,  some  were  degraded  by  their  own  cupidity, 
and  the  favours  and  bribes  of  Bonaparte ;  while 
others,  harassed  by  his  suspicions  and  the  vigilance 
of  the  police,  lived  far  away  from  the  army  ;  for 
their  influence  over  it  might  have  assumed  a  form 
that  would  have  subverted  Bonaparte's  designs. 

Among  the  latter,  and  occupying  a  place  apart, 
was  Morcau.  From  him  it  seemed  that  the  Republic 
might  have  much  to  hope,  for  not  only  had  he  won 
more  battles  than  any  other  general,  but  he  had  also 
displayed  more  of  the  virtues  of  a  citizen. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  7 1 

The  position  of  Moreau,  in  open  dissension  with 
Bonaparte,  rendered  him  peculiarly  fit  to  be  the 
head  of  a  party,  had  it  been  in  him  to  assume  such  a 
character.  I  will  endeavour  to  explain  why  this  was 
so,  by  referring  to  previous  events,  but  I  shall  confine 
myself  to  such  matters  only  as  throw  a  light  upon  the 
occurrences  which  I  propose  to  narrate. 

The  origin  of  the  dissension  between  Moreau  and 
Bonaparte  must  be  sought  for  so  far  back  as  the  middle 
of  year  IX.  It  appears  the  reluctance  with  which 
Moreau  consented  to  detach  20,000  men  from  his  own 
troops,  who  were  then  occupying  the  heart  of  Germany, 
for  the  support  of  Bonaparte  in  hisexpedition  into  Italy, 
was  resented  by  the  latter.  In  Germinal  of  the  same 
year  6  the  official  journal  (in  which,  even  at  that  early 
period,  no  article  concerning  affairs  of  state  was 
inserted  without  either  posiiive  orders  from  Bonaparte 
or  his  authorization)  stated  that  the  pay  of  Moreau's 
troops  had  been  furnished  by  the  public  exchequer 
from  the  date  of  his  assuming  the  command  in 
year  VIII.  This  was  a  gross  falsehood,  and  Moreau 
replied  to  it  on  the  29th  Floreal,  by  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  Minister  of  War,  in  which  he  rendered  an 
account  of  the  state  of  the  funds  which  had  main- 
tained his  troops,  and  their  origin.  By  this  it  was 
shown  that  Moreau  had  received  about  eighteen 
millions  (francs)  from  the  Treasury,  and  that  he  had 
levied  war-contributions  to  the  extent  of  forty-four 
millions  in  Germany.7 

6  See  the  Moniteur  of  the  12th  and  13th  Germinal,  pp.  809 
and  819. 

7  He  gave  an  account  of  the  expenditure  of  36,000,000  out 
of  the  latter  sum,  and  stated  that  he  had  reserved  to  himseh 
the  use  to  be  made  of  the  7,000,000  of  surplus. 

By  Moreau's  own  admission,  the  greater  portion  of  the  latter 


72  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

When  Moreau  re-entered  France  with  the  army 
whose  victories  had  secured  peace,  precautions  were 
taken  for  the  dispersion  of  its  various  corps  ;  for 
Bonaparte  held  Moreau  as  dangerous  as  he  might 
have  proved  had  ambition  been  his  ruling  passion. 
On  the  general's  return  to  his  own  home  he  became 
an  object  of  unremitting  suspicion  to  Bonaparte  and 
the  police.  His  manner  of  talking,  whether  in  jest  or 
in  earnest,  made  it  sometimes  evident  to  the  point  of 
indiscretion  that  he  did  not  rate  Bonaparte  very  high. 
He  lived  with  his  family  amid  a  rather  frivolous  society, 
at  a  time  when  it  might  have  been  less  dangerous 
to  be  famous  and  held  in  esteem  by  the  nation, 
this  would  have  been  little  worthy  of  a  man  who 
had  just  done  such  great  things  for  the  country.  I  Ie 
was    not,  however,  wanting   in    pride    on    occasion,8 

sum  had  been  distributed  to  the  troops  as  gratuities.  These  gra- 
tuities had  enriched  no  one :  those  granted  to  the  generals  did 
not  exceed  $0,000  francs.  Moreau  sent  a  copy  of  his  letter  to 
the  Minister  of  War  to  each  of  the  newspapers  ;  but  an  order 
from  the  Ministry  of  War,  or  probably  irom  the  Ministry  of 
Police,  forbidding  them  to  publish  it,  reached  them  at  the  same 
time.*  While  the  newspapers  were  silenced  by  this  prohibition, 
certain  persons  who  had  constant  access  to  Bonaparte,  and 
willingly  acted  as  echoes  of  his  words,  went  about  repeating — 
with  an  air  of  mystery  well  calculated  to  give  weight  to  their 
assertion — that  Moreau  had  laid  hands  on  one-eighth  of  the 
war-contributions  for  his  own  profit. 

8  [Marg.  note.]  "  He  said  things  which  indicated  much  good 
sense  and  sound  political  principles.  He  sometimes  even 
talked  of  the  principles  on  which  he  would  govern  France,  or 
believed  the  country  ought  to  be  governed.  The  Government 
was  extremely  jealous  of  him ;  spies  were  set  upon  all  his 
actions,  and  the  meanness  of  jealousy  was  carried  to  the  extent 
of  soliciting  the  cessation  of  certain  social  gatherings  which  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  attending,  and  whither  a  number  ot  ioreigners 
who  were  eager  to  see  and  know  him  resorted." 

*  Moreau  had  it  printed,  and  Fauriel  possessed  a  copy.  For 
the  text,  see  Appendix. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  73 

and  when  he  was  in  society  where  he  thought  that 
the  services  he  had  rendered  to  the  Republic  would 
be  properly  appreciated,  he  sometimes  spoke  as  a 
man  who  felt  that  he  had  given  peace  to  France, 
that  same  peace  whose  fruits  were  all  usurped  by 
another.  He  had  few  friends  among  the  generals 
who  had  served  under  him,  and  who  had  been  the 
companions  of  his  victories  ;  some  were  suspected, 
like  himself,  the  others  were  sent  to  posts  at  a 
distance. 

Such  being  the  state  of  things,  it  is  not  at  all  ex- 
traordinary that  the  various  parties  looked  upon 
Moreau  as  a  man  who  was  very  likely  to  become  an 
active  enemy  of  Bonaparte  and  his  projects,  and  were 
disposed  to  make  attempts  to  gain  him  over  to  their 
respective  views,  so  as  to  avail  themselves  of  his 
renown  for  the  execution  of  their  plans. 

Moreau  was,  however,  prohibited  by  the  nature  of 
his  opinions  and  by  his  character  from  entering  into 
relations,  or  sympathizing,  either  with  the  Jacobins 
who  regarded  him  as  a  royalist,  or  as  ready  at  any 
moment  to  join  the  Royalist  party,  or  with  the  pure 
royalists  who  did  not  put  upon  him  the  affront  of 
considering  him  as  belonging  to  them.  A  con- 
scious indecision  in  his  opinions  and  in  his  political 
feelings  probably  contributed  to  make  them  look 
upon  him  as  a  possible  conquest  to  their  cause, 
and  to  lead  them  to  think  that  after  having  won 
so  many  battles  for  the  Republic,  he  might  at  last 
resolve  to  try  and  win  one  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons,  and  thus  expiate  the  others. 

It  is,  however,  quite  certain  that  Moreau  had 
never    entered    into    relations,    or    taken    any   step 


74  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

whatsoever,  which  could  authorize  the  royalists  to 
entertain  any  hopes  of  the  kind.  Such  an  alliance 
was  not  in  the  nature  of  things,  as  I  shall  show 
more  conclusively  when  I  explain  what  was  done 
to  bring  it  about,  to  what  influence  those  efforts 
were  due,  and  what  results  ensued. 

The  truth  is  that  the  men  with  whom  Morcau 
sympathized  in  politics  were  only  five  or  six  who 
formed  a  portion  of  the  minority  of  the  Senate,  and 
that  he  had  communications  with  only  two  or  three 
of  these  Their  confidences  were  confined  to  barren 
aspirations  towards  a  better  state  of  things  than  that 
actually  existing,  and  equally  barren  regrets  for  the 
latter :  this  they  regarded  as  shameful  and  fatal  for 
France,  and,  nevertheless,  it  was  only  the  prelude 
to  a  still  more  deplorable  condition.  Neither  Moreau 
nor  this  handful  of  men  had  any  settled  plan  of  oppo- 
sition to  all  that  Bonaparte  was  preparing  to  do,  or 
for  the  undoing  of  what  he  had  already  accomplished  ; 
they  had  neither  means  nor  courage  for  the  task, 
and,  if  I  am  not  much  mistaken,  he  who  had  won 
battles  did  not  display  less  weakness  and  irreso- 
lution in  the  course  of  those  communications  than 
others.  Bonaparte  could  not  have  regarded  them  as 
conspiracies  had  he  not  felt  that  his  projects  and 
his  conduct  were  legitimate  sources  of.  conspiracy. 
Moreau  found  all  his  pleasure  in  the  repose  and 
indolence  of  domestic  life ;  he  avoided  every  ap- 
pearance of  action,  and  was  in  fact  as  harmless  as  he 
seemed.  He  was  regarded  with  universal  favour, 
and  so  great  was  the  general  apathy  and  cowardice, 
the  people  seemed  to  be  pleased  with  him  for  dis- 
guising   from     himself  the     state  of   the    Republic, 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  75 

and  appearing  unconscious  of  Bonaparte's  fears  and 
suspicions,  however  vain  they  were. 

Such,  then,  as  I  have  described  it.  was  the  state  of 
parties  at  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing  ;  their 
natural  state,  if  I  may  use  that  term.  It  may  fairly 
be  concluded  that  those  parties  were  not  very 
formidable  to  Bonaparte's  designs.  No  man  dared 
to  act  for  himself,  each  man  was  waiting  until  another 
should  take  action,  and  give  him  a  chance  of  pro- 
fiting by  it.  Nothing  can  be  more  favourable  to  the 
consolidation  of  despotism  than  a  state  of  things  in 
which  various  factions,  all  opposed  in  opinion,  are 
known  to  be  enemies  of  the  despot,  without  having 
sufficient  means  to  attack  him.  Despotism  obtains 
an  easy  victory  over  them,  and  its  fruits  are  the  same 
as  though  the  victory  had  been  difficult  and  the 
struggle  uncertain. 

Bonaparte  was  perfectly  well  aware  of  the  state  of 
the  factions.  He  was  very  anxious  to  suppress  and 
abolish  them  entirely.  He  was  on  the  point  of  re- 
creating the  throne  of  the  Bourbons  (this  should 
be  constantly  borne  in  mind),  and  it  was  of  real 
importance  to  him  at  this  moment  to  strike  at 
those  who  would  have  no  more  of  the  ancient 
things,  and  also  at  those  who  wanted  to  have 
both  the  ancient  things  and  the  former  persons 
restored. 

It  is,  however,  difficult  for  a  Government  which  de- 
sires to  combine  a  reputation  for  justice  with  the  pro- 
fits of  tyranny,  to  destroy  enemies  who  have  not  the 
courage  of  their  enmity,  who  merely  meet  in  secret  to 
utter  irresolute  protests,  and  vain  hopes  for  a  success 
which  they  dare  not  put  to  the  hazard.     Such  enemies 


y6  The  Last  Days  of  tJie  Consulate. 

are  nevertheless  very  troublesome,  to  a  suspicious  and 
jealous  Government  that  is  meditating  changes  to  its 
own  advantage;  in  the  first  place,  because  it  is  in  the 
nature  of  things  that  the  fears  of  such  a  Government 
should  outrun  its  danger,  and,  secondly,  because  a 
party  which  has  not  enough  strength  in  itself  to  be 
formidable,  may  gain  it  through  an  unexpected  in- 
cident, in  a  complicated  condition  of  affairs,  and  when 
appearances  are  uncertain. 

In  such  a  position,  what  was  Bonaparte  to  do  ?  I 
will  relate  what  he  did. 

He  endeavoured  to  urge  those  enemies  whom  he 
knew,  because  he  had  had  them  carefully  watched,  to 
action  ;  to  inspire  them  with  resolution  and  audacity 
which  they  did  not  naturally  possess  ;  so  that  he 
might  be  able  to  come  down  upon  them  with  more 
show  and  publicity,  and  to  punish  them  with  a 
greater  parade  of  justice  :  that  is  to  say,  to  punish 
the  offences  to  which  they  had  been  prompted  as  if 
those  offences  were  spontaneous. 

I  am  aware  that  such  an  assertion  must  appear 
very  strange,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  a  novelty  in  the 
history  of  tyranny.  It  will  date  from  the  French 
Revolution,  and  assuredly  it  will  not  be  one  of  the 
least  strange  results  of  that  Revolution.  History 
records  the  deeds  of  tyrants  who  oppress  their 
enemies,  without  aiming  at  any  other  honours  and 
advantages  than  those  of  getting  rid  of  them.  The 
French  Revolution  will  furnish  examples,  at  different 
periods,  of  oppressors  who  incite  those  whom  they 
desire  to  destroy  to  the  commission  of  crime,  in  order 
that  they  may  destroy  them  with  all  the  forms  intended 
for  the  preservation  of  innocence  from  the  undue 
exercise  of  strength. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consjtlate.  yy 

However  strange  the  assertion  that  I  have  just 
made  may  appear,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  will  be 
proved  by  the  subsequent  facts.  But  it  is  indis- 
pensable, before  I  go  farther,  to  allude  to  a  kind  of 
authority  equally  new  in  the  annals  of  mankind, 
that  authority  which  was  the  instrument  of  the  de- 
signs whose  fulfilment  we  shall  shortly  see  :  I  mean 
the  police.1 

The  police  was  a  creation  of  the  Directory,  and 
of  Merlin's  especially.2  At  that  time  the  factions 
were  much  more  active  and  energetic  than  they  have 
since  been,  because  their  resources  included  freedom 
of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  up  to  a  certain  point, 
freedom  of  political  meetings.  The  Directory  soon 
became  arbitrary  because  it  was  weak  and  despised, 
and  it  regarded  the  police  as  its  best  defence 
against  its  enemies.  The  police  grew  and  expanded 
in  proportion  as  the  Directory  lost  ground  in  public 
esteem  and  respect.  I  believe  that  the  Ministry  of 
Police  employed  seven  or  eight  hundred  spies  under 
Bourguignon,  the  last  Minister  of  Police  but  one? 
The   iSth  Brumaire  rendered  much  of  this  vigilance 

1  [Marg  note.]  "The  police  must  be  spoken  of  in  general, 
and  what  it  may  and  ought  to  be  in  the  Government,  stated. 
That  is,  an  authority  which  can  arrest,  transport,  and  hand 
over  to  military  commissions,  those  who  are  the  object  of  its 
suspicions.  It  must  be  pointed  out  and  insisted  upon  that  the 
police  is  by  its  nature  the  most  liable  of  all  powers  to  become 
the  organ  and  special  instrument  of  the  personal  objects  of 
Governments." 

2  The  Ministry  of  Police  was  created  on  the  ist  of  January, 
1796.  Camus  was  the  first  titular  minister,  but  he  held  office 
only  three  days.  Merlin  (of  Donai),  who  was  then  Minister  of 
Justice,  succeeded  him,  and  resigned  his  functions  in  April,  when 
he  had  completely  organized  the  service. 

3  Bourguignon  Dumolard,  of  Dauphine,  was  Minister  of 
Police  from  the  23rd  of  June  to  the  20th  of  July,  1799.  He  was 
replaced  by  Fouchfi. 


7  8  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

unnecessary,  on  account  of  the  national  assent  to 
the  decision  of  that  day,  which  gave  the  Govern- 
ment it  created  the  strength  that  was  needed  to 
prevent  it  from  resorting  to  arbitrary  means.  The 
number  of  spies  was  reduced,  and  greater  importance 
was  attached  to  that  portion  of  the  duties  of  the 
Ministry  which  consisted  of  the  suppression  and 
punishment  of  actual  disorder  than  to  the  divination 
of  intended  disturbances.  Most  of  the  dealings  of 
the  Ministry  of  Police  with  individuals  were  acts 
of  reparation  for  the  proscriptions  that  had  taken 
place  under  the  Directory/  or  at  still  earlier  dates.5 

The  first  indication  of  the  falsehood  and  perfidy 
of  the  police  system  occurred  on  the  occasion  of 
"the  pacification  of  La  Vendee,"  when  men  who  had 
been  only  half-conquered  by  force  of  arms  were 
finally  crushed  by  stratagem,  and  those  sam?  men, 
entrapped  into  fancied  security  by  a  perfidious 
device  of  the  Government,  were  arbitrarily  ar- 
rested.6 The  attempted  assassination  of  Bonaparte 
on  the  3rd  Nivose,  year  IX.,  confirmed  the  police  in 
its  new  characteristics.  The  enemies  whom  Bona- 
parte had  made  for  himself  by  the  Senatus-consul- 
tum   of  the    15th    Nivose,7  those    among    the    chief 

4  [Marg.  note.]  "  These  observations  are  true  only  in  so  far 
as  the  Ministiy  of  Police  in  particular  is  concerned,  but  not  of 
the  police  in  general  ;  for  its  action  was  divided  among  numerous 
agents  who  were  independent  of  each  other.  For  instance,  while 
proscribed  persons  were  recalled  by  the  Ministry  of  Police, 
the  vilest  intrigues  were  going  on  at  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior." 

6  [Marg.  note.]  "  By  degrees,  the  police  became  inspired  with 
the  spirit  of  Bonaparte,  which,  ere  it  completely  possessed  that 
service,  had  invaded  other  men,  and  other  authorities. " 

6  An  allusion  to  the  execution  of  M.  de  Frotte,  in  January, 
1800.     See  M.  Thiers. 

7  On   the    15th   Nivose,  a   Senatus-consultum   rectified   the 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,  79 

authorities  who  revealed  themselves  successively  by 
their  opposition  to  him  ;  his  dread  of  being  assas- 
sinated, evinced  as  it  was  by  innumerable  precautions 
such  as  the  former  kings  of  France  would  have  dis- 
dained to  adopt  and  blushed  to  admit  to  be  needful 
-  all  these  circumstances  made  the  spy  system  neces- 
sary, and  obliged  it  to  be  more  adroit,  to  maintain  a 
more  numerous  force,  and  to  select  its  chief  from 
classes  less  open  to  the  suspicion  of  plying  so  shameful 
a  trade.  The  bodies  of  special  police  were  multiplied 
and  reinforced.  Several  of  the  Ministries  had  each 
its  special  police-force. 

The  First  Consul  had  his  own,  and  that  which  had 
happened  under  the  Directory  occurred  again  under 
Bonaparte.  With  each  injustice  that  he  perpetrated, 
according  as  he  declined  in  public  esteem,  the  police 
became  more  suspicious,  active,  and  aggressive.  No 
longer  content  with  setting  snares  to  entrap  the 
enemies  of  the  Government  into  betraying  their 
intentions  and  their  projects,  the  police  plotted  to 
induce  them  to  commit  actions  which  laid  them 
open  to  punishment,  and  those  men  who  had 
been  their  pretended  accomplices  acted  when  ne- 
cessary as  informers  before  the  courts  of  law, 
having  previously  played  that  part  for  the  Govern- 
ment. 

I  will  cite  a  few  facts  which  I  believe  to  be  hardly, 
if  at  all,  known,  and  it  will  be  easy  to  judge  from 
them  what  the  police  under  Bonaparte  was,  even 
in  the  beginning,  and  what  it  was  capable  of  being 
made  in  his  hands. 

decree  by  which  Bonaparte  had  condemned  130  persons  to 
transportation  as  "Terrorists." 


80  TJie  Last  Days  of  the  Co7isulate. 

Shortly  after  the  18th  Brumaire,  Bonaparte,  who 
was  already  irritated  by  the  opposition  which  had 
begun  to  manifest  itself  in  public  opinion  and  feel- 
ing, bethought  him  of  a  means  whereby  he  might 
secure  the  power  of  punishing  that  opposition  at  his 
pleasure.  He  employed  his  brother  Lucien  to  get 
a  pamphlet  written,  in  which  he  was  decried,  his 
government  attacked  in  unmeasured  terms,  and  his 
character  aspersed  by  the  grossest  calumny  and 
abuse.  All  the  persons  believed  to  entertain  the 
sentiments  manifested  in  this  pamphlet,  and  to  be 
desirous  of  disseminating  them,  were  named.  Now, 
side  by  side  with  the  tarnished  names  of  a  few  dema- 
gogues who  had  neither  place  nor  influence,  were 
those  of  some  men  who  held  high  office  and  bore 
themselves  with  independence.  It  is  said  that 
Fontanes  was  asked  by  Lucien  to  write  this  pamphlet. 
He  was  known  to  be  so  vile  that  such  a  pro; 
might  be  made  to  him,  but  he  was  not  vile  enough  to 
accept  it. 

To  the  best  of  my  belief,  it  was  a  journalist  named 
Isidore  Langlois8  who  did  the  dirty  job.  Langlois 
had  been  expatriated  in  Fructidor.  year  V.,  and  was 
employed,  at  this  time,  by  Lucien,  in  his  office,  where 
he  acted  as  a  spy  for  Fouche.  I  will  name  him 
because  he  is  dead  ;  and  because  a  stain  the  more 
upon  his  already  dishonoured  name*  cannot  do  him 

8  Isidore  Langlois,  born  at  Rouen  on  the  18th  of  June,  1770, 
editor  of  the  Mcssager  du  Soir,  and  one  of  the  journalists  pro- 
scribed after  the  8th  Fructidor.  He  was  recalled  after  the  18th 
Brumaire.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  pamphlet  which 
Fauriel  attributes  to  him. 

9  u  General  Hoche.  having  been  insulted  by  him  in  the 
Mcssager,  retaliated  by  a  truly  military  revenge/'  says  the 
"  Biographie  Moderne,''  1807,  Leipzig,  vol.  iii.  p.  68. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         81 

a  real  injustice,  even  though  it  were  an  error,  which  I 
do  not  think  it  is. 

Another  circumstance,  one  which  is  an  unknown 
incident  of  a  well-known  event — the  attempt  of  the  3rd 
Nivose  and  the  measures  which  ensued  upon  it — may 
give  an  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  Bonaparte  used 
the  police  administration  for  his  own  purposes. 
When  the  list  for  transportation  of  thirty-five  so-called 
ringleaders  was  made,  the  police  and  Bonaparte 
himself  were  well  aware  that  the  strongest  presump- 
tion respecting  the  authors  of  the  plot  attached  to 
the  Vendeans,  but  none  to  the  Jacobins.1  But  Bona- 
parte saw  that  the  occurrence  would  furnish  a  favour- 
able opportunity  for  undermining  a  party  whom  he 
dreaded,  and  whom  he  might  persecute  with  impunity 
because  they  were  odious  to  the  nation. 

A  list    of   men    belonging    to    the  Jacobin  party 

who   were   reputed  to   be  especially  dangerous,   was 

then    drawn    up,    and    so    hurriedly  was    this    done 

that  it  included  the  names  of  some  who  were  dead 

and  others  who  were  absent  from   Paris.     When  the 

available  ones  on   the  list  had   been  transported,  and 

before  the  police  had  laid  hold  of  the  real  clue  to  the 

conspiracy,  which  terminated   in  the  Royalist   party, 

certain   enemies  of  Fouche  wanted   to  force  him    to 

declare,  in   the   presence  of  the  Consul    and    at   the 

Council  of  State,  that  as  the  men  who  had  just  been 

sent  out  of  the  country,  were  held   guilty  of  the  out- 

1  "  Some  instinct,"  said  Fouche  to  Bourrienne,  in  1805,  "  told 
me  that  the  'infernal  machine  '  was  the  doing  of  the  Royalists, 
I  said  so,  privately,  to  Bonaparte  ;  he,  lam  certain,  was  equally 
convinced  of  the  fact  himself;  but  nevertheless  he  persisted 
in  proscribing  a  hundred  men."  ("  Memoires  de  Bourrienne." 
vol.  vi.  p.  293.  Thiers  gives  very  full  details  of  the  attempt, 
and  its  consequences.     Book  viii.) 


S2  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

rage  of  the  3rd  Nivose,  no  other  persons  could  be 
prosecuted  on  the  same  charge.  The  First  Consul, 
having  no  longer  any  interest  in  disguising  the  real 
motive  for  the  transportation  of  the  unfortunate 
Jacobins,  took  the  trouble  of  replying  personally  to 
this  interpellation  addressed  to  Fouche,  and  informed 
his  hearers  that  the  police  were  to  be  in  nowise 
hindered  in  their  search  for  the  originators  of  the 
plot  ;  because  the  men  who  had  been  transported  as 
such  deserved  that  punishment,  and  their  exile  was  a 
measure  of  public  safety,  even  supposing  they  were 
not  guilty  of  the  crime  imputed  to  them. 

The  dismissal  of  Fouche  from  the  post  of 
Minister  of  Police  led  to  a  transitory  notion  that  at 
length  that  office  was  about  to  be  reduced  in  im- 
portance, and  the  methods  by  which  it  worked  to 
fall  into  disuse  by  the  Government.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Rcgnier's 2  administration  was  quiet  and 
easy  enough.  Several  minor  acts  of  an  arbitrary 
kind  were  indeed  done  by  him,  but  none  of  the  bold 
and  glaring  sort  that  had  been  perpetrated  under 
Fouche.  This  change  may  possibly  have  arisen 
from  the  different  characters  of  the  two  ministers,  or 
it  may  be  accounted  for  cither  by  the  union  of  the 
Ministry  of  Police  with  that  of  Justice,  or  by  Bona- 
parte's preoccupation  with  the  renewal  of  the  war  with 
England,  which  so  absorbed  him  that  his  attention 
was  diverted  from  the  factions. 

All   the  previous   achievements  of  the  police  were, 

however,  destined  to  be  surpassed   by  the  audacity 

and  refinement  of  perfidy  which  was  developed  within 

an  interval  of  six  months.     What  I  have  already  said 

*  He  was  Grand  Judge. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  8$ 

has  only  indicated  what  the  police  might  become  ;  it 
is  for  facts  to  Speak  now 

I  must  again  refer  to  a  former  period,  in  order  to 
trace  out  the  origin  of  the  conspiracy  in  which 
Moreau  is  held  to  have  been  an  accomplice,  and  to 
explain  many  deeds  of  Bonaparte's  to  which  it  served 
as  a  pretext. 

Bonaparte's  first  manifestation  of  an  intention  to 
ruin  Moreau  dates  back  to  year  X.  A  certain  Abbe 
David,3  whom  we  shall  soon  find  figuring  among 
conspirators  of  a  new  kind,  had  been  intimate  with 
Pichegru,  Moreau,  and  several  other  generals  of  the 
army  of  the  Rhine ;  and  he  had  been  employed 
there  after  having  undergone  many  metamorphoses 
in  the  course  of  the  Revolution  ;  for  he  had  always 
been  ready  with  opinions  and  conduct  to  suit  each 
change  of  circumstances.  After  a  long  absence, 
caused  by  Pichegru's  defection  in  year  V.,  David 
returned  to  Paris,  subsequently  to  the  1 8th  Brumaire, 
and    had    passed    nearly    two    years    there    without 

3  P.  David,  cure  of  Pompadour,  and  afterwards  of  Uzerche, 
embraced  the  cause  of  the  Revolution,  was  Secretary-General 
of  the  Department  of  the  Pyrenees  Orientales  after  the  8th 
Brumaire,  and  afterwards  (in  1801)  Vicar-General  to  the  Bishop 
of  Limoges.  Having  come  to  Paris,  he  endeavoured  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  between  Moreau  and  Pichegru,  was  arrested  at 
Calais  (22  November,  1802 1,  transferred  to  the  Temple,  brought 
to  trial  with  Moreau,  and  acquitted  In  1796,  he  had  published, 
at  Hamburg,  the  "  Histoire  Chronologique  des  Operations  de 
l'Annee  du  Nord  et  de  celle  de  Sambre  et  Meuse,  depuis  Ger- 
minal an  II.  jusqu'au  merae  mois  de  Fan  III.,  tiree  des  livres 
d'ordre  de  ces  deux  armees."  It  will  appear,  farther  on,  that 
Fauriel  treats  him  as  a  mere  buffoon,  and  with  good  reason, 
judging  by  the  pamphlet  which  this  former  cure  published  in 
Paris  in  1817  (Le  Normant),  under  the  title,  "  Seconde  epitre 
de  M.  l'Abbe  Siccard,  ou  Histoire  en  vers  burlesques  ci'une 
partie  des  folies  et  des  crimes  du  corse  empereur  depuis  son 
entree  en  Egypte  jusqu'a  sa  deportation  a  Sainte  Helene." 

G   2 


84  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

having  seen  Moreau.  At  last,  on  the  6th  Prat  rial,  lie 
asked  for  an  interview  with  the  general,  in  order 
to  ascertain  how  he  was  disposed  towards  Pichegru, 
and  to  avow  his  intention  of  endeavouring  to  effect 
a  reconciliation  between  them.  Moreau  received 
David's  overtures  coldly,  conveying  by  his  manner 
that  he  entertained  no  personal  enmity  towards 
Pichegru,  but  that  he  regarded  him  as  utterly  lost  in 
the  estimation  of  the  French  by  his  betrayal  of  his 
country  in  year  V. 

While  he  was  thus  opening  negotiations  with 
Moreau,  David  imparted  his  proceedings  to  several 
generals,  among  whom  were  Macdonald  and  Dejean, 
and  also  to  senator  Barthclemi.  They  all  approved 
of  the  proposed  reconciliation,  and  the  two  generals 
even  undertook  to  procure  permission  from  Bonaparte 
for  Pichegru  to  return.  Their  petition  was  absolutely 
rejected,  but  in  such  a  way  as  to  imply  that  the 
refusal  was  rather  the  effect  of  circumstances  which 
prevented  its  being  granted  at  the  time,  than  absolute 
and  irrevocable  under  others  which  might  arise. 

David  immediately  wrote  to  Pichegru,  who  was  in 
London,  informing  him  of  what  was  going  on.  He 
announced  his  intention  of  effecting  a  reconciliation 
between  Pichegru  and  Moreau,  and  confidently 
assured  the  former  that  the  latter  would  make  no 
opposition  to  his  re-entering  France,  but  would 
even  assist  him  in  doing  so,  if  he  had  the  power. 
This  assurance  had  been  conveyed  in  two  or  three 
letters  addressed  to  him  by  Moreau,  and  in  those 
letters,  the  general,  while  freely  expressing  his  un- 
favourable opinion  of  Pichegru's  conduct,  had  been 
careful  to  convey  his  personal  goodwill  towards  him. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         85 

The  police  were  in  full  possession  of  all  David's 
overtures  to  Moreau,  and  all  Moreau's  answers  to 
David,  and  this  fact  might  have  cast  some  suspicion 
on  the  intentions  of  the  latter.  Moreau  did  indeed 
feel  some  uneasiness  respecting  them,  only  that 
David's  indiscretion  was  sufficient  to  exculpate  him 
from  charges  of  a  more  serious  and  disgraceful  kind. 
He  lived  in  a  boarding-house  in  Paris,  where  he  saw 
a  number  of  people  of  all  sorts,  and  of  the  most 
various  ways  of  thinking,  every  day,  and  he  boasted 
over  and  over  again  in  their  presence  of  his  project 
for  the  reconciliation  of  Pichegru  and  Moreau  ;  more- 
over, it  is  said  that  he  added  a  mysterious  insinuation, 
which,  if  not  an  act  of  treachery,  was  at  least  an 
egregious  blunder  on  the  part  of  a  man  accustomed 
to  political  intrigues,  and  who  was  not  ignorant  of 
Moreau's  position  with  respect  to  the  Consular 
Government.  He  had  talked  of  Moreau's  reconcilia- 
tion, not  only  with  Pichegru,  but  with  a  great  per- 
sonage whom  he  did  not  name,  but  who  could  be 
no  other  than  Bonaparte. 

At  the  beginning  of  year  XL  the  Abbe  David 
resolved  upon  going  to  London,  either  because  he 
had  some  personal  matters  to  look  after  there,  or  for 
the  purpose  of  discussing  the  affair  of  the  reconcilia- 
tion with  Pichegru  in  person.  He  made  no  secret  of 
this  journey  ;  according  to  custom  he  asked  for  a 
passport  at  the  Prefecture  of  Police  :  this  he  obtained, 
and  forthwith  set  out.  He  encountered  neither  oppo- 
sition nor  obstacle  until  he  reached  Calais,  on  the  1st 
Frimaire  ;  but  there  he  was  arrested,  with  preparations 
and  precautions  which  proved  that  orders  to  that 
effect  had  been  sent  in  advance  of  him.      His  papers 


86  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

were  minutely  examined,  and  among  them  were 
found  the  copy  of  a  note  written  to  Moreau,  and  a 
letter  from  Moreau  himself  relating  to  Pichegru,  and 
containing,  so  to  speak,  his  profession  of  faith  with 
respect  to  him.  The  papers  were  carried  off  and 
sent  to  the  Grand  Judge,  who  might  just  as  well 
have  had  them  seized,  and  the  man  in  whose  posses- 
sion they  were,  arrested  at  Paris.  The  designs  of  the 
Government  in  regard  to  Moreau  were,  however, 
much  more  effectually  served  by  the  arrest  of  David 
at  Calais,  almost  upon  the  frontier  of  England, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  journey  whose  object  was  a 
visit  to  Pichegru  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  him  and 
Moreau  together.  The  joy  displayed  by  Bonaparte's 
partisans  on  learning  the  arrest  of  David,  and  the 
seizure  of  Moreau's  letters,  and  the  threatening  hints 
that  they  let  fall,  proved  sufficiently  what  kind  of 
advantage  it  was  proposed  to  take  of  the  occurrence. 
They  had  counted  on  the  imprudence  of  Moreau,  on 
his  tenderness  towards  a  former  friend,  which  might 
easily  be  represented  as  criminal.  They  found 
widely  different  testimony  to  Moreau's  sentiments. 
It  was  proved  under  his  own  hand,  that  while  he  bore 
no  personal  resentment  to  Pichegru,  he  had  not  for- 
gotten his  treachery  to  his  country.  Moreau  remained 
perfectly  quiet  amid  all  the  noise  that  the  Govern- 
ment made  about  this  occurrence,  and  the  stir 
subsided  by  degrees.  David,  who  had  been  brought 
to  Paris  and  questioned  very  roughly  and  with 
threats,  was  released  at  the  end  of  a  few  months  ; 
so,  this  plan  of  encompassing  Moreau's  ruin  having 
proved  abortive,  in  spite  of  its  fair  promise,  other 
means  had  to  be  sought. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  8j 

We  shall  see  by  what  a  roundabout  way  the 
Government  thought  they  had  at  last  ensured 
success. 

I  have  now  to  speak  of  a  man  who  had  already 
acquired  notoriety  in  the  course  of  the  Revolution  by 
the  violence  of  his  opinions,  and  afterwards  increased 
his  celebrity  by  conduct  of  a  kind  which  the  meanest 
men,  those  who  had  the  very  least  claim  to  public 
esteem,  had  hitherto  carefully  concealed  when  guilty 
of  it. 

This  man  was  Mehee  ; 4  and  Mehee,  who  had  not 

*  Jean  CI.  Hipp.  Mehee  de  la  Fouche,  born  at  Meaux  about 
1769,  died  at  Paris  in  poverty  in  1826  ;  he  was  the  son  of  a 
professor  of  medicine  at  Val  de  Grace  The  following  is  a 
sketch  of  his  life  before  Fauriel  brings  him  under  notice  A 
secret  agent  of  the  revolutionists  in  Poland  and  Russia,  he  was 
hunted  out  of  those  countries  and  returned  to  Paris  in  1792, 
just  in  time  to  be  made  Recording  Secretary  to  the  Commune 
called  that  of  the  10th  of  August,  and  is  said  by  his  enemies 
to  have  taken  part  in  the  September  massacres.  He  was  im- 
prisoned for  some  time  under  the  Terror,  and  after  the  9th 
Thermidor  he  published  various  pamphlets  against  the  Jacobins. 
He  was  Secretary  to  the  War  Department,  and  afterwards  to  that 
of  Exterior  Relations  (1795 — !796),  and  it  was  probably  in  the 
first  of  those  posts  that  he  had  been  enabled  to  render  certain 
services  to  Bonaparte.  After  the  18th  Bruinaire  he  was 
entrusted  with  the  editorship  of  the  Journal des  Hontmes  Litres. 

He  has  related  with  impudent  frankness,  supporting  his 
statements  by  several  original  documents,  the  schemes  to 
which  he  resorted  to  entrap  the  Royalist  party  and  the  English 
Ministry.  His  book,  published  at  the  expense  of  the  French 
Government,  is  entitled,  "  Alliance  des  Jacobins  de  France 
avec  le  Minhtere  Anglais  "  The  Jacobins  are  represented  by 
citizen  Mehee,  and  the  English  Ministry  by  Messrs.  Hammond 
and  Yorke  and  Lords  Pelham  and  Hawkesburv.  He  gives  as 
a  sequel  Drake's  "  Stratagems,  Correspondence,  and  Plans  of 
Campaign,''  &c.  The  book  was  printed  at  the  Republican 
Printing  Office  in  Paris,  in  Germinal,  year  XII.,  and  sent  by 
the  Minister  of  Exterior  Relations,  with  a  report  from  the  Grand 
Judge,  to  the  members  of  the  diplomatic  body.  The  originals 
of  the  letters  written  by  Drake  which  were  contained  in  the 
book  were  addressed  to  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  at  whose  court 


SS  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

yet  fallen  from  the  height  to  which  he  had  been 
raised  among  the  demagogues,,  regarded  Bonaparte 
as  a  kindred  spirit.  The  two  were  united  by- 
agreement  of  opinion,  more  than  by  any  other  bond. 
Mehee,  who  had  been  the  most  powerful  of  the  two, 
up  to  the  13th  Vendemiaire,  had  given  all  the  aid  and 
assistance  to  Bonaparte  which  the  less  fortunate  of 
two  friends  is  entitled  to  expect  from  the  other.  He 
had  been  secretary  to  the  famous  Commune  of  Paris 
during  the  revolutionary  turmoil,  and  under  the 
Directory  he  was  appointed  Historiographer  of  the 
French  Republic.  I  do  not  know  what  he  ever  did 
towards  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  that  post,  but  we 
shall  soon  see  what  manner  of  man  the  Directory  had 
selected  as  an  historian.  His  chief  occupation  under 
the  Directory  was  the  management  of the  Journal  des 
Homines  Litres,  which  Fouche  bought  and  continued, 
under  his  own  management,  until  close  on  the  18th 
Brumaire.  M^h^e  was  retained  as  the  editor  of 
that  journal,  and  was  thus  brought  into  immediate 
contact  and  indirect  connection  with  Bonaparte. 
This  was  a  perilous  position.  At  that  period  the 
press  had  already  been  subjected  to  numerous 
restrictions,  and  to  an  oppressive  inquisition  which 
made  its  semi-freedom  at  once  dangerous  and  diffi- 
cult. The  number  of  newspapers  had  been  reduced, 
by  a   consular  decree,  from  fifty  or  sixty  to   twelve,* 

Drake  represented  England.  ( Journal  de  Paris,  29th  of  March, 
1805,  p.  1198.) 

I  >n  the  17th  of  January,  1800,  a  decree  of  the  Consul  had 
reduced  the  number  of  newspapers,  not  to  twelve,  but  to  thirteen 
(including  the  Monsieur).  The  following  is  a  list  of  those  which 
escaped  suppression,  for  awhile  at  least: — Le  Monitcur  l/m- 
versel,  Lc  Journal  des  Dibats,  Le  Journal  dc  Paris.  Le  Bien 
Jnjorme,  Le  Publiciste,  L Ami  des  Lois,  La  CleJ du  Cabinet,  Le 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  89 

and  these  twelve  privileged  newspapers  were  liable 
to  the  habitual  censorship  of  the  police.  Never- 
theless the  last  remains  of  the  formerly  existing 
licence  of  the  press  still  sufficed  to  give  it  a  show 
of  freedom,  and  for  some  months  after  the  18th 
Brumaire  most  of  the  journalists  who  had  been 
permitted  to  survive  more  or  less  boldly  and  per- 
suasively supported  the  opposition  to  Bonaparte 
that  was  manifested  in  Paris  and  among  the  autho- 
rities, in  proportion  as  he  lost  his  reputation  for 
heroism  and  the  love  of  liberty. 

Mehee  was  among  this  number,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  reiterated  rebukes  of  Fouche,  who  was  to  a  certain 
extent  responsible  in  the  eyes  of  the  Consul  for  all 
that  was  displeasing  to  him  in  the  Journal  des  Homines 
Libres,  he  frequently  gave  offence  to  Bonaparte,  either 
through  malice  or  because  it  is  impossible  to  avoid 
displeasing  an  all-powerful  man  who  will  not  suffer 
anybody  except  himself  to  enjoy  freedom  of  thought. 
He  talked  in  the  same  spirit  that  his  journal  dis- 
played ;  he  even  wrote  a  pamphlet  against  an  elaborate- 
note  in  which  Senator  Garat  sought  to  prove  that  the 
great  personages  who  had  risen  to  power  by  their  renown 
in  arms  had  been  at  the  same  time  friends  of  liberty. 

In  the  summer  of  year  IX.,  Meh^e  told  a  story  of 
Talleyrand's  ridiculous  humouring  of  the  First  Consul, 
under  the  form  of  an  eastern  apologue.  It  was  to  the 
following  effect.  Bonaparte  wanted  to  shoot  in  a  place 
where  there  was  no  game,  and  Talleyrand,  having 
bought  several    dozens  of  rabbits,  had  them  turned 

Citoyen  Francais,  La  Gazette  de  France,  Le  Journal  des  Homines 
Libres,  Le  Journal  du  Soir,  Le  Journal  des  Dejenseurs  de  la 
Patrie,  La  Decade  Philosophique. 


90  TJic  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

loose  on  the  ground  the  day  before.    The  rabbits  proved 
to  be  so  tame  that  they  could  be  killed  only  by  kicks. 

This,  and  some  other  articles,  led  to  the  suppression 
of  the  journal,  and  shortly  afterwards  to  Mehee's 
banishment  to  Dijon,  without  any  apparent  cause 
except  what  had  passed  respecting  the  newspaper,  and 
the  manner  in  which  Mehee  had  presumed  to  speak  of 
his  former  comrade,  now  the  sole  and  supreme  head 
of  the  Republic.6 

Fouche',  who  was  regarded  as  Mehee's  patron, 
and  who  ought  to  have  protested  against  the  First 
Consul's  anger,  was  forced  to  act  as  its  instru- 
ment; he  it  was  who  convened  to  Mehee  the  order 
to  withdraw  to  Dijon,  and  induced  him  to  obey  it. 
This  exile  was  of  short  duration;  in  five  or  six  weeks 
Mehee  obtained  his  recall,  and  returned  to  Paris.  I  fe 
was,  however,  again  arrested  and  sent  to  Oberon,7 
either  because  he  persisted  in  the  conduct,  or  rather 
in  the  speeches,  that  had  led  to  his  banishment  to 
Dijon,  or  for  other  reasons  unknown  to  me.  It  i 
well  to  state  here  that  his  transportation  was  effected 
in  so  rough  and  arbitrary  a  manner  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  believe  there  was  any  connivance  be- 
tween Mehee  and  the  police  in  order  to  attain  a 
secret  object. 

Mehee  was  transported  to  Oberon,  whither  several 
victims  of  the  Senatus-consultum  of  the  15th  Nh 
had  also  been  sent,  with  some  other  men  of  the  same 

*  Bonaparte  said  to  Fouche,  in  an  altercation  with  him, 
"There's  one,  Mehee,  allowed  to  write  a  newspaper  :  a  man  who 
was  in  the  affair  of  September  ;  I  have  it  all  signed  by  his  hand. 
These  are  the  sort  of  people  you  patronize  ! "'  ("  Memoire  sur  le 
Consulat,"  p.  102.) 

7  [Marg.  note.]  '*  Again  Fouche  was  the  instrument  of  his 
exile  to  Oberon." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  91 

party  who  had  unluckily  displeased  Bonaparte.  At 
this  point  the  facts  become  more  singular,  more 
important,  more  equivocal.  I  shall  not  conceal  such 
suspicions  as  are  well  founded,  but  I  will  only  state 
for  fact  what  I  entirely  believe. 

So  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  Mehee  remained  at 
Oberon  for  more  than  a  year.  During  that  interval 
Fouche  had  left  the  Ministry  ot  Police;8  but,  as  I 
shall  shortly  have  occasion  to  relate  more  precisely, 
he  had  not  withdrawn  from  affairs  of  the  sort;  and 
his  abiding  influence,  together  with  his  continued 
offices  about  the  First  Consul,  enabled  him  to  use 
interest  for  Mehee  and  solicit  his  recall  Mehee's 
wife  beset  him  with  entreaties  which  he  could  not 
reject,  on  behalf  of  one  whom  he  ought  to  have 
protected  more  effectually  against  the  excesses  of 
arbitrary  power. 

Mehee  escaped  from  Oberon  on  the  16th  Frimaire, 
year  XI.,  and  from  this  point  the  facts  begin  to 
assume  an  equivocal  and  mysterious  character.  In 
the  first  place,  evasion  was  a  difficult  feat,  for  the 
island  was  closely  guarded,  and  it  was  an  especially 
difficult  feat  in  the  case  of  Mehee.  Then  it  was  in 
Paris  that  Mehee  took  refuge  ;  !  that  is  to  say,  under 
the  eyes  of  the  power  that  had  persecuted  him,  and 
might  persecute  him  with  greater  rigour  than  ever, 
after  an  evasion  which  could  only  be  regarded  as  an 
aggravation  of  his  offences  against  it. 

8  As  we  have  already  remarked,  the  Ministry  of  Police  of 
which  Fouche  was  the  head  was  suppressed  on  the  14th  of 
September,  1802. 

1  [Marg.  note.]  "  He  asked  everywhere  in  Paris  for"  letters 
of  introduction.  One  of  his  friends  requested  a  very  well- 
known  Irishman  to  give  him  a  letter,  but  was  refused." 


92  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

I  leave  these  considerations  to  the  sagacity  of 
the  impartial  reader.  But  it  is  a  more  remark- 
able fact,  and  one  which  I  regard  as  quite  certain, 
that  shortly  before  the  date  given  by  Mehec  as  that 
of  his  escape  from  Oberon,  his  wife  said  openly  that 
through  the  intercession  of  Fouche  he  had  obtained 
permission  to  retire  to  Holland  or  England.  At 
any  rate,  when  we  find  M6hee,  a  few  days  after  his 
arrival  in  Paris,  forming  a  plan  for  going  to  England 
in  order  to  mystify  the  French  princes  and  ihnigrcs, 
it  is  impossible  to  refrain  from  suspecting  the  spon- 
taneity of  such  a  project.  It  is  not  necessary  that 
our  curiosity  to  know  the  whole  truth  concerning 
so  singular  a  circumstance  should  be  satisfied,  in 
order  to  enable  the  reader  to  form  a  sound  judgment 
upon  the  subsequent  results.  Considering  the  manner 
in  which  Mehec's  expedition  was  turned  to  account,  I 
regard  the  suggestion  as  but  a  trifling  aggravation 
of  the  transaction. 

After  a  delay  of  a  few  days  at  Guernsey,  where 
he  confided  his  plan  in  the  first  instance,  and  made 
his  first  offers  of  service,  to  the  governor  of  the 
island,"  Mehee  reached  London,  towards  the  end  of 
Pluviose,  year  XI.,3  bearing  letters  from  the  Governor 
of  Guernsey  for  the  English  Ministry,  who  had  already 
been  informed  by  General  Doyle  of  the  inten  tions  of 
the  traveller.  It  was  therefore  to  the  English  Govern- 
ment that  he  first  presented  himself,  and  with  it  he 
endeavoured  to  effect  the  negotiation  which  he  had 
in  view. 

He  represented  himself  as  an  enemy  of  Bonaparte, 

-  General  Doyle.     See  '*  Alliance  des  Jacobins,"  p.  io. 
3  In  February,  1803. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  93 

eager  to  be  revenged  upon  him  for  a  long  course 
of  oppression,  by  every  sort  of  means  and  at  any  cost. 
It  happened,  by  a  chance  that  was  very  favourable  to 
Mehee,  and  of  which  he  probably  knew  nothing,  that 
Bonaparte's  conduct  towards  him  had  been  related  in 
London  in  some  detail,  and  had  been  much  talked  of. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  English  Government 
entertained  any  doubt  whatever  of  the  dispositions 
and  the  sincerity  of  a  man  who  seemed  to  be  ani- 
mated with  a  desire  for  vengeance,  who  certainly 
had  motives  for  that  desire,  and  who  assuied  them 
that  he  had  the  means  of  gratifying  it.  Never- 
theless, he  was  heard  with  coldness  and  reserve,  and 
even  neglected;4  for  the  peace  which  still  subsisted 
between  the  two  nations  rendered  such  services  as 
he  offered  less  valuable  at  that  period.  It  was  not 
until  after  the  rupture  that  there  was  any  eagerness 
to  welcome  him,  or  sign  of  a  disposition  to  do  justice 
to  his  hitherto  neglected  overtures.5 

It  forms  no  part  of  my  plan  to  trace  out  the 
incidents  and  the  progress  of  this  unprecedented 
scheme.  Indeed  I  could  not  narrate  them  other- 
wise than  according  to  Mehee's  own  recital,  and  I 
regard  it  as  necessarily  untrustworthy  in  many  par- 
ticulars.    I  shall  restrict  myself  to  the  chief  results 

4  See  "  Alliance  des  Jacobins,"  pp.  18  and  following. 

5  [Marg.  note.]  "  It  is  rather  remarkable,  that  at  the  moment 
when  the  English  Ministry  seemed  to  accept  the  proposals  of 
Mehee,  he  received  a  visit  from  one  Baude.  who  had  newly 
arrived  from  France.  Was  not  this  man  an  envoy  of  Mehee's 
employers,  sent  to  communicate  to  him  private  advices  and 
instructions  relative  to  the  rupture?" 

Mehee  alleges  (p.  31)  that  Baude,  "  who  had  done  him  at  Paris 
an  infinity  of  small  services,  was  charged  to  make  inquiry  into 
the  processes  of  certain  English  manufactures." 


94  The  Last  Days  of  the  Con  sit  late. 

of  this  extraordinary  affair,  and  to  circumstances 
which,  on  the  one  hand,  throw  a  light  on  the  sub- 
sequent events,  and,  on  the  other,  are  authenticated 
by  those  very  occurrences. 

The  basis  of  the  plan  which  Mehee  presented 
to  the  English  Government  was  simple  enough,  and 
might  even  appear  specious  to  persons  who  have 
always  been  ill-informed  upon  the  true  state  of  things, 
and  the  real  condition  of  men's  minds,  in  France. 
He  alleged  that  there  existed  a  Jacobin  Committee, 
having  relations  with  members  of  that  party  in 
every  part  of  the  Republic,  and  also  among  the 
troops,  through  an  influential  general  who  was 
devoted  to  it.  The  proposed  aim  of  this  committee 
was  the  overthrow  of  the  Government  of  Bonaparte, 
and  the  re-establishment  of  the  Republic.  Mehee 
announced  himself  as  being  in  intimate  relations 
with  this  committee,  and  standing  high  in  its 
favour,  and  he  proposed  to  come  to  France-  in  order 
to  avail  hirmclf  of  these  advantages  for  a  double 
purpose  ;  firstly,  that  of  inducing  as  many  as  he  could 
of  the  members  of  the  Jacobin  Committee  to  adopt 
Royalist  opinions  and  act  with  the  Royalist  ;  arty, 
and,  secondly,  to  get  up  a  movement  and  foment  dis- 
turbances which  the  English  or  the  princes  might 
immediately  turn  to  their  advantage  by  certain 
means  pre-arranged  with  that  object.  This,  then, 
was  the  plan,  which  it  was  agreed  that  Mehee 
should  carry  out  in  France;  with  the  addition  that 
he  was  to  pass  through  Munich  on  his  round- 
about journey,  and  there  to  see  the  resident  English 
Minister,  to  take  private  instructions  from  him, 
and   arrange   in    fuller   detail    certain     measures    for 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  95 

the  execution  of  the  general  plan  that  had  been 
laid  in  London. 

Careful  though  Mehee  is  to  put  forward  this  project, 
and  the  negotiation  that  ensued  upon  it,  as  the  joint 
action  of  himself  and  the  English  Government,  he 
names  M.  Bertrand  de  Molleville  as  the  single  and 
direct  negotiator  in  the  matter.  Now,  M.de  Molleville, 
considering  his  well-known  relations  with  the  French 
princes  in  England,  must  be  regarded  as  their  agent 
with  the  English  Cabinet,  and  not  as  the  direct 
agent  of  the  latter.  Moreover,  the  general  instruc- 
tions given  to  Mehee  through  this  gentleman  and 
under  his  direction,  are  very  vague,  and  do  not  posi- 
tively define  any  object  except  the  overthrow  of  the 
then  existing  government  of  France,  leaving  to  the 
nation  the  choice  of  a  substitute.  I  am  bound  to 
mention  these  two  circumstances,  because  they 
furnish  a  ready  and  natural  answer  to  most  of  the 
imputations  against  the  English  Government  with 
which  all  France  was  soon  to  ring. 

According  to  Mehee's  statement,  he  intended  to 
confine  himself  to  negotiating  with  the  English 
Government,  and  to  conceal  the  result  from  the 
French  princes.  This  was  a  condition  rigidly  im- 
posed by  the  English  Government,  and  he  had  been 
strongly  recommended  to  observe  it  by  M.  Bertrand 
de  Molleville. 

Whether  such  a  stipulation  had  or  had  not  been 
made,  it  is  at  once  evident  that  it  could  not  suit 
Mehee,  and  that  he  must  needs  disregard  it,  in  order 
to  complete  the  execution  of  the  plan  either  made 
by  himself,  or  traced  out  for  him  at  Paris.  In  fact 
he    proceeded    to    place  himself  in    communication 


96  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

with  certain  agents  of  the  Count  d'Artois  ;  he  had 
a  conference  with  the  Bishop  of  Arras,6  a  friend  of 
that  prince ;  and  procured  a  recommendation  to 
Louis  XVIII.  through  M.  de  Merve.  His  purpose 
in  opening  communications  with  that  prince,  was 
to  interest  him  by  the  double  expedient  of  reveal- 
ing the  secret  of  the  English  Ministry,  and  em- 
ploying the  means  that  they  were  to  supply  to 
forward  his  private  ends,  and  also  by  complaining  to 
Louis  XVIII.  of  the  reception  which  he  (Mehee) 
had  met  with  from  the  agents  of  the  Count  d'Artois, 
and  of  the  Bishop  and  his  advice. 

The  result  of  Mehee's  conferences  with  Villot, 
Bishop  of  Arras,  and  Henry  Lariviere  was  a  strange 
one. 

It  seems  that  they  came  to  no  agreement,  and  he 
entered  into  no  engagement  with  them  ;  there  was 
indeed  a  sort  of  rupture,  or  at  least  an  unpleasant- 
ness between  him  and  the  Bishop  of  Arras.  But 
the  communication  of  some  of  his  ideas  to  them,  the 
overtures  he  allowed  to  escape  him,  when  talking 
of  the  state  of  things  in  France  in  general,  and 
the  views  and  resources  of  the  party  of  whom  he 
claimed  to  be  the  motive  power  in  particular,  ap- 
peared to  make  an  impression  on  all  his  hearers, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  Mehee's  object  was 
to  inspire  them  with  false  notions,  which,  at  a 
moment  when  the  renewal  of  the  war  had  revived 
the    hopes   of   the   princes   and   their   party,   would 

6  [Marg.  note.]  M  A.  A.  A.  Joyaut,  of  Arras,  born  at  Tc'nac, 
Morbihan,  in  1778,  had  a  share  in  the  plot  of  Xitfose  ;  managed 
to  escape  to  London,  Irom  whence  he  returned  with  Georges  ; 
was  arrested  and  tried  with  him,  sentenced  to  death  and 
executed." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.  97 

not  be  confined  to  idle  speculation,  but  must  neces- 
sarily become  the  basis  of  decisive  action. 

Now  we  come  to  the  first  act  in  the  forthcoming 
drama  of  conspiracy.  War  being  decided  upon  by  the 
Governments  of  England  and  France,  the  French 
princes,  willing  for  their  own  objects  to  assist 
the  former  by  employing  all  the  means  of  hostility 
they  possessed,  began  to  send  emissaries  into  the 
places  that  had  formerly  been  the  scene  of  the 
Vendean  war,  there  to  prepare  people  and  things 
for  a  fresh  outbreak,  and  to  Paris,  to  observe 
the  state  of  affairs,  to  verify  what  they  had  been 
told  by  Mehee,  and  other  French  agents  of  the  same 
character,  or,  more  probably,  to  act  according  to 
the  circumstances  as  they  arose,  and  to  observa- 
tions made  on  the  spot. 

The  first  batch  of  these  emissaries  arrived  between 
the  1st  and  the  10th  Fructidor,  year  XI.  It  was 
composed  of  seven  or  eight  individuals,  including 
Georges  Cadoudal,  Joyaut,  and  a  person  named  Que- 
relle,7 who  took  an  active  part  in  the  subsequent  events. 

7  Querelle  or  Querclla,  born  at  Vannes,  had  served  under 
Georges.  He  was  amnestied  in  1800,  went  to  England  and 
returned  with  him,  charged  with  a  mission  to  the  princes  in  the 
western  provinces.  A  letter  which  he  was  foolish  enough  to 
write  to  his  brother,  asking  him  to  undertake  this  mission  in  his 
stead,  put  the  police,  "  whose  eyes  were  everywhere."  savs  the 
Alimiteur,  on  the  alert.  He  was  arrested  in  Paris  in  Vende- 
miaire,  year  XII.  Two  months  later,  Picot  and  Lebourgeois 
(two  other  agents  of  the  princes)  were  arrested  at  Pont  Andemer. 
All  three  were  brought  before  a  military  commission,  at  the 
beginning  of  Pluviose,  and  condemned  to  death.  Picot  and 
Lebourgeois  were  shot  ;  Querelle  saved  his  life  at  the  last 
moment  by  giving  information  to  the  police  at  Rdal  which 
betrayed  that  Georges  and  Pichegru  were  in  Paris,  and  led  to 
the  arrest  of  their  accomplices.  He  was  kept  in  prison,  but  they 
took  care  not  to  produce  him  at  the  trial,  although  called  upon 
to  do  so  by  several  of  the  accused. 

H 


98  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

It  would  be  too  much  to  say  that  these  men  would 
not  have  gone  to  France  if  Meh^e  had  not  given 
their  chiefs  in  London  false  notions  which  led  to 
its  being  decided  that  they  were  to  do  so  ;  for, 
strictly  speaking,  the  renewal  of  the  war  accounted 
for  their  descent  upon  French  soil.  But  when  we 
closely  follow  the  thread  of  the  intrigue  which  Mehee 
went  to  London  to  weave,  we  feel  how  difficult  it  is 
to  believe  that  his  conduct  did  not  largely  influence 
the  resolution  of  the  Council  of  the  Count  d'Artois 
to  send  Georges  Cadoudal  to  France.  Besides, 
Mehee  positively  acknowledges  this  in  his  pub- 
lished narrative  of  what  he  calls  his  diplomatic 
transactions  in  England  ;  but  while  in  that  narrative 
he  only  admits  it,  he  vaunted  it  openly  in  words, 
before  a  score  of  persons,  with  effrontery  which  might 
almost  be  called  ferocity,  considering  that  at  the  time 
he  did  so,  the  men  for  whom,  as  he  boasted,  he 
had  laid  a  fatal  snare,  were  virtually  condemned  to 
the  scaffold  already. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  this  circumstance,  it 
should  not  be  either  omitted,  or  held  of  no  account, 
in  following  the  course  of  events.  The  little  band 
with  Georges  at  their  head  disembarked  and  dispersed 
in  different  directions.  Georges  Cadoudal  and  a  few 
others  took  the  Paris  road,  and  Querellc,  who  seems 
to  have  been  sent  on  a  special  mission  to  a  town 
in  one  of  the  western  Departments,  instead  of 
hastening  thither,  stopped  at  a  place  where  he  had 
nothing  to  do,  and  wrote  from  thence  to  a  brother 
of  his  who  resided  in  the  locality  where  his  mission 
lay,  begging  him  to  fulfil  the  latter  on  his  behalf. 
So  indiscreet  an  action  as  that  of  charging  a  person 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,  99 

who  probably  ought  not  to  have  been  taken  into 
his  confidence  at  all,  with  a  mission  of  a  nature  to 
incur  a  severe  penalty,  is  almost  incredible,  especially 
when  we  have  the  added  fact  that  Querelle  sent 
by  post  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  brother. 
That  letter  was  seized  by  the  police,  and  although  as 
a  matter  of  fact  it  was  not  the  first  means  by  which 
the  police  were  apprised  of  the  arrival  of  Georges  in 
France,  it  might  have  been.8  A  by  no  means 
gratuitous  suspicion  arises  in  our  minds ;  the 
suspicion  that  Querelle  had  been  gained  over  to  the 
police  before  his  arrival  in  France.  At  any  rate, 
whether  this  suspicion  be  or  be  not  well  founded, 
matters  nothing  as  regards  the  nature  and  the  order 
of  subsequent  events. 

I  must  now  return  to  Mehe?,  and  follow  him  to  the 
Continent,  where  we  shall  see  him  carrying  his  project 
relative  to  England  into  execution. 

Mehee  arrived  at  Akona  at  the  beginning  of 
Vendemiaire,  year  XII.9  He  asserts  that  it  was  from 
thence  he  took  the  French  Government  into  his  con- 
fidence.1    Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  we  must  bear  in 

8  [Marg.  note.]  a  The  police  might  have  learned  the  arrival 
of  Georges:  lbt,  through  Menee,  who  was  still  in  London  ;  2nd, 
through  one  of  their  spies  in  London  ;  3rd,  through  Lajolais, 
who  was  in  correspondence  with  Pichegru  ;  4th,  through  their 
agents  among  the  Chouans  in  the  places  where  Querelle 
stayed." 

,J  See  "  Mehee."  pp.  18  and  following. 

1  A.  L.  La  Chevardiere,  who  had  been  a  chief  clerk  in  the 
treasury,  in  the  department  of  the  "  Caissede  l'Extraordinaire," 
was  entrusted  with  a  mission  to  La  Vendee  after  the  10th  of 
August,  and  on  his  return  became  an  assiduous  member  of  the 
Jacobin  Club,  where,  on  one  occasion,  Robespierre  defended 
him.  After  the  18th  Fructido  ,  he  became  successively  Secretary- 
General  of  Police,  Consul  at  Palermo,  and  Member  of  the 
Administration  of  the  Department  of  the  Seine;  he  was  after- 

II    2 


ioo        TJic  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

mind  that  thenceforward  all  his  proceedings  were 
known  to,  and  held  to  be  sanctioned  by  the  French 
Government. 

On  his  arrival  at  Altona  he  at  once  went  to  La 
Chevardiere,  the  French  Consul  at  that  port,  being 
resolved  to  make  him  the  medium  of  the  revelations 
which  he  had  to  make  to  the  French  Government,  and 
to  share,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  between  the  Minister  of 
Exterior  Relations  and  the  Minister  of  Police.  It  was 
a  stroke  of  luck  for  Meh^e  to  meet  with  La  Chevar- 
diere whether  he  was  really  about  to  open  a  correspon- 
dence of  a  spontaneous  kind  with  Bonaparte,  or  to 
give  an  account  of  a  prearranged  mission.  La  Che- 
vardiere was  very  well  known  to  Mehee,  for  they  had 
stood  together  in  the  ranks  of  the  revolutionists  at  a 
time  when  that  word  was  synonymous  with  assassins. 
Having  fallen  into  poverty  and  contempt,  La  Chevar- 
diere conceived  the  idea  of  at  least  escaping  from  the 
former  by  denouncing  certain  intrigues  of  the  Jaco- 
bins, in  which  he  was  both  an  actor  and  a  confidant, 
to  the  First  Consul.  Donadieu  2  was  the  chief  pro- 
moter of  those  schemes.  La  Chevardiere  was  not  dis- 
appointed ;  he  made  his  disclosures  to  the  First  Con- 
sul in  person,  and  the  consulship  at  Altona,  where 
Mehee  found  him,  was  the  reward  of  his  conduct.    The 

wards  sentenced  to  transportation  after  the  18th  Brumaire.  but 
this  did  not  prevent  his  being  sent  to  Hamburg  in  1802,  as 
Commiss  ry  of  Commercial  Relations.  He  was  born  in  Paris 
in  1766,  a..d  died  there  in  1828. 

-  This  was  the  General  Donadieu  who  acted  so  mercilessly 
in  the  suppression  of  Dipier's  conspiracy  in  18 16.  At  that 
period  he  was  adjutant-general.  He  was  arrested  with  Four- 
nier,  who  was  chief  of  brigade.  I  think  both  these  officers 
belonged  to  the  Army  of  the  West,  which  was  deeply  hostile  to 
Bonaparte.     (See  "  Memoires  sur  le  Consulat,"  p.  322.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       101 

meeting  of  those  two  men  must  have  been  like  that  of 
the  often-quoted  Roman  augurs. 

Mehee's  next  proceeding,  after  he  had  written  to  the 
French  Government,  was  to  write,  according  to  the 
intention  he  had  formed  while  still  in  London,  to 
Louis  XVIII.  at  Warsaw,  offering  him  the  same  ser- 
vices that  he  had  already  offered  to  the  French 
princes  in  England,  and  to  the  English  Government, 
with  this  characteristic  circumstance  in  addition  that 
he  affected  to  sacrifice  both  the  English  ministers  and 
the  French  princes  to  Louis  XVIII.  in  so  far  as  his 
interests  might  require.  He  sent  the  letter  of  intro- 
duction that  he  had  contrived  to  procure,  to  the 
Duke  de  Gramont,3  who  was  the  Pretender's  chief 
confidant,  and  not  doubting  that  he  should  obtain  an 
answer  through  the  perfidious  cunning  of  his  own 
letter,  and  the  recommendation  he  had  secured,  he 
gave  an  address  at  which  he  proposed  to  await  its 
arrival4 

Having  done  all  this,  he  left  Hamburg,  and  set  out 
for  Munich,  where  Mr.  Drake,  who  hai  received  in- 
structions concerning  him,  was  expecting  him. 

In  three  or  four  days  after  his  arrival  at  Munich, 
Mehee  had  communicated  his  plans  to  Drake,  and 
received  orders,  instructions,  and  money  for  the  set- 
ting in  motion  (for  the  advantage  of  England)  of  that 
famous  Jacobin  Committee  on  whose  existence  he  had 
based  all  the  delusions  which  he  had  imposed  upon 
the  English  agents.     He  forthwith  took  his  departure, 


6  Ant.  G.  H.  Ag^nor,  Duke  de  Gramont,  Lieut. -General  and 
Peer  of  France  ;  born  17th  of  August,  1775,  died  in  Paris,  28th 
of  August,  1836. 

*  See  "  Mehee,"  p.  83. 


J02  The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

and  reached  Paris  early  in  Brumaire.  Then  ensued 
the  correspondence  with  Mr.  Drake,  by  which 
Europe  may  well  have  been  astonished  and  scandal- 
ized in  more  senses  than  one.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
enter  into  the  details  of  this  correspondence,  suffice  it 
to  remark,  and  to  remember,  that  no  sooner  was  a 
letter  of  Drake's  received,  than  it  was  communicated 
to  Bonaparte,  who  prescribed  the  sense  in  which  each 
answer  was  to  be  made,  or  at  least  had  each  answer 
submitted  to  him  by  the  Grand  Judge. 

The  object  of  this  correspondence  was  to  keep  up 
and   strengthen   Drake's  erroneous  view   of  Mcli 
real   intentions,  by  communicating  to  him  information 
respecting  the   designs  of  the  First  Consul  and  the 
police  intrigues  at  Paris. 

This  information  was  conveyed,  sometimes  in 
Mehee's  own  correspondence,  sometimes  in  reports, 
also  of  MdheVs  production,  but  which  were  sup- 
posed by  Diake  to  proceed  from  the  Jacobin  Com- 
mittee, and  to  form  a  st\  arate  correspondence  from 
that  of  Mehee,  one,  indeed,  actuated  by  other  views. 
But  the  main  object  of  this  stiange  correspondence 
was  to  obtain  (by  means  of  the  half-confidence  made 
to  Mr.  Drake  respecting  all  that-  was  going  on  in 
Paris)  real  information  upon  the  relations  which  were 
supposed  to  exist  between  him  and  the  men  against 
whom  the  police  were  about  to  act,  and  who  were  to 
be  punished  for  having  fallen  into  the  trap  set  for  them. 

I  must  now  deal  with  the  things  that  were  done 
from  within,  and  by  the  direct  operation  of  the  police, 
vrhtle  Mehee  was  organizing  schemes  from  without 
which  were  to  have  a  double  result ;  they  were  in- 
tended  to  second  the  intrigues  of  the  internal  con- 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        103 

spiracies,  and  to  be  added  at  need  to  the  number  of 
pretexts  for  the  general  menace  of  reform  of  govern- 
ment. It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  police,  or 
rather,  Bonaparte,  whose  instrument  that  power  was, 
had  not  been  satisfied  with  the  results  of  the  arrest 
of  David. 

The  occurrence,  far  from  having  injured  Moreau  in 
the  public  esteem,  had  served  him,  because  the  failure 
of  the  attack  upon  him,  the  importance  that  had 
been  attached  to  it,  the  deliberate  system  on  which  it 
had  been  conducted,  t'.e  trouble  that  had  been 
taken  to  ensure  its  success,  were  all  positive  proofs 
in  the  eyes  of  even  the  hast  suspicious  and  the 
Last  discerning  that  Bonaparte  would  not  rest 
satisfied  with  a  barren  enmity  to  Moreau.  Besides, 
the  destined  hour  of  the  establishment  of  the  Em- 
pire was  approaching,  and  each  day  it  became  more 
and  more  urgent  to  destroy  either  the  renown  or 
the  person  of  the  man  whom  Bonaparte  and  the 
public  were  alike  agreed  in  regarding  as  the  centre 
of  all  the  attempts  that  might  be  made  by  the 
nation  or  by  the  army,  if  not  to  save  the  Republic, 
at  least  to  preserve  some  remnants  of  liberty. 

It  was  necessary  to  entrap  Moreau.  Since  he 
did  not  seek  out  a  co-conspirator,  the  only  means  of 
inveigling  him  was  to  get  the  notion  put  into  his 
head  by  men  who  seemed  well  disposed  to  do  so, 
and  who  appeared  to  find  it  easy.  Before  I  re- 
count what  I  know  to  have  been  done  with  this  pur- 
pose, it  is  necessary  to  premise  that  I  am  far  from 
knowing  all  that  was  done.  I  shall  adhere  to  the 
order  of  dates  in  so  far  as  that  order  is  compatible 
with  the  political  sequence  of  events. 


104       The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

Hardly  had  the  sensation  caused  by  the  arrest  of 
Pavid  subsided,  and  that  scheming,  foolish  man  been 
set  at  liberty,  when  Moreau  was  approached  by  a  more 
dangerous  person.6  This  was  Lajolais.6  He  had  been 
intimately  acquainted  with  Pichegru,  had  commanded 
a  division  under  him,  and  having  been  denounced  by 
Moreau  as  an  accomplice  in  his  treason,  was  kept  in 
prison  until  the  beginning  of  year  VIII.,  that  is  to 
say,  eighteen  whole  months. 

Tins  man,  who  had  neither  place  nor  name,  over- 
whelmed with  old  debts,  obliged  to  contract  new- 
ones,  but  too  well  known  to  find  dupes  so  ready  or 
so  numerous  as  he  needed,  possessed  only  hap- 
hazard means  of  subsistence,  and  was  forced  to  hide 
in  disreputable  dens  from  the  horde  of  creditors  who 
hunted  him  on  all  sides.  According  to  his  own 
statement,  judgments  had  been  obtained  against  him 
for  80,000  livres,  and  that  sum  fell  far  short  of  the 
amount  of  his  debts.  His  wife  was  a  handsome 
woman,  and  he  did  not  shrink  from  making  a  hideous 
profit  by  her  charms,  freely  taking  money  or  patron- 
age from  her  admirers.  She  was  arrested  at  Stras- 
burg,  in  February,  1804,  four  days  prior  to  the  arrest 

•s  Fred.  Lajolais  was  born  in  1761  at  Weissenbourg,  where  his 
father  held  the  post  of  "king's  lieutenant."  He  was  denounced 
by  Moreau,  arrested  as  an  accomplice  of  Pichegru,  under  whom 
be  had  served,  and  acquitted  (January.  i8co)  by  a  court-martial  at 
Strasburg.  After  having  vainly  petitioned  to  be  allowed  to 
re-enter  the  service,  he  became  one  of  the  emissaries  of  the 
Royalist  party,  was  arrested  on  the  25th  Pluviose.  year  XI  I., 
and  condemned  to  death  on  the  1st  of  June  following  ;  but  his 
sentence  was  commuted  to  four  months'  imprisonment  in  the 
fort  of  Joux 

6  A  marginal  note  written  in  pencil  on  folio  30  of  this  manu- 
script, and  which  is  not  in  Faunel's  own  hand,  says,  "  Chabaud 
Latour  told  every  one  who  was  disposed  to  listen  to  him  that 
Lajolais  began  his  military  career  by  stealing  blankets." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         105 

of  Pichegru,  and  the  newspapers,  in  announcing  the 
fact,  described  her  as  a  former  mistress  of  the 
General. 

Such  was  the  man  who  presented  himself  to 
Moreau  at  Grosbois,  towards  the  end  of  Prairial  or 
the  beginning  of  Messidor,  year  XII.,  having  lost 
sight  of  him  during  an  interval  of  six  years.  Moreau 
must  have  been  not  a  little  surprised  to  receive 
a  visit  from  a  man  who  owed  him  nothing  but  resent- 
ment for  his  long  detention  in  prison,  and  still  more 
surprised  when  he  learned  that  the  object  of  that 
visit  was  to  solicit  his  interest  at  a  moment  when 
it  was  a  fact  notorious  to  everybody  that  he  was  in 
disgrace  with  the  Government  But  the  most  remark- 
able circumstance  of  this  strange  visit  was  that 
Lajolais  was  the  bearer  of  a  note  from  Pichegru  to 
Moreau,  in  which  the  former  recommended  to  him 
this  same  Lajolais,  who  had  formerly  had  relations 
with  both  of  them,  and  to  whom  it  seemed  that 
Pichegru  owed  especial  consideration  as  the  victim  of 
those  former  relations. 

It  is  not  superfluous  to  remark  that  Pichegru 
could  not  have  sent  Lajolais  a  letter  of  recommenda- 
tion to  Moreau  unless  he  had  been  asked  for  one. 
The  interview  between  the  General  and  Lajolais  was  of 
a  trivial  kind.  Moreau  spoke  of  his  want  of  influence, 
and  expressed  his  regret  for  the  fact  under  the  par- 
ticular circumstances.  This  was  a  piece  of  ordinary 
civility,  very  naturally  shown  to  a  man  whose  miserable 
condition  had  been  at  least  in  part  brought  about  by 
the  speaker.  A  few  days  later,  Lajolais  saw  Moreau  in 
Paris  three  or  four  times  in  succession.  On  these 
occasions  there  was  special  mention  of  Pichegru,  his 


106         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

position  in  England,  the  probabilities  of  his  being 
able  to  return  to  France,  and  lastly,  of  Moreau's 
feelings  with  regard  to  him.  Moreau  confirmed  what 
was  already  generally  known  from  all  that  had 
transpired  of  the  correspondence  between  himself  and 
David  a  year  before,  and  Lajolais  finally  expressed  a 
desire  to  repair  to  England  by  way  of  Alsace,  in  order 
to  see  Pichegru,  and  give  an  authoritative  confirma- 
tion to  what  he  already  knew  concerning  Moreau's 
good-will  towards  him.  He  asked  Moreau  to  lend 
him  twenty-five  louis  for  the  expenses  of  this  journey, 
but  the  General  refused  the  loan. 

It  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  Lajolais  was  the  instru- 
ment of  the  police  in  all  the  ensuing  course  of  this 
intrigue,  and  even  in  its  most  remarkable  incidents  ; 
that  is  a  fact  which  could  not  be  hidden  from  any 
one.  Nevertheless,  I  shall  not  take  it  upon  myself  to 
fix  the  precise  date  of  his  transaction  with  the  police  ; 
it  will  be  enough  for  me  to  mark  the  moment  when 
the  relations  he  had  entered  into  were  proved  by  the 
facts  that  resulted  from  them. 

In  Messidor,  year  XL,  Lajolais  retired  to  Alsace, 
and  there  passed  six  months,  during  which  nothing 
was  said  or  heard  about  him  in  Paris. 

Simultaneously  with  the  suspicious  visits  of  Lajolais 
to  Moreau,  snares  were  being  set  for  the  General  in 
another  direction.  The  famous  Neuchatel  bookseller, 
Fauche  Borel,7  so  well  known  for  the  part  he  played 

7  He  was  printer  to  the  King  of  Prussia  at  Neuchatel 
(Switzerland),  and  he  was  the  first  to  open  negotiations  with 
Pichegru  on  behalf  of  the  Prince  de  Conde  (1795).  Having 
come  to  Paris  in  1803,  he  was  arrested  there,  but  after  eighteen 
months'  imprisonment  he  was  transported  across  the  frontier 
(Fauriel  afterwards  asserts  that  he  escaped),  and  became  printer 
to  the  Court  of  Berlin  in  1805. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        107 

in  the  schemes  that  were  concocted  by  the  emigres 
against  the  French  Republic,  and  especially  for  his 
share  in  the  negotiations  between  the  Prince  de  Conde 
and  Pichegru  in  year  V.,  was  imprisoned  in  the 
Temple  at  the  period  with  which  we  are  now  con- 
cerned. It  does  not  often  happen  that  a  man,  how- 
ever decided  his  sentiments  and  confirmed  his  habits 
may  be,  continues  to  concoct  in  prison  the  schemes 
that  have  lodged  him  there.  This,  nevertheless, 
was  what  Fauche  Borel  did.  Under  the  eyes  and 
in  the  grasp  of  the  police,  he  busied  himself  with 
designs  and  plans  against  the  French  Government, 
whose  object  was  to  assist  and  favour  the  plans  that 
were  being  concerted  at  the  same  time  in  London. 
His  ideas  on  this  subject  found  their  way  beyond  the 
gates  and  walls  of  the  Temple.  He  had  a  nephew, 
one  Vitel,  of  whom  he  made  a  messenger,  and  it  was 
to  Moreau  that  Fauche  Borel,  the  prisoner  of  the 
Temple,  conveyed  his  hints  and  his  hopes.  Moreau 
regarded  the  latter  as  ridiculous  dreams.  If  he 
had  been  endowed  with  keener  penetration,  he  would 
have  perceived  that  Borel  could  only  act  through  the 
influence  of  that  very  same  authority  which  held  him 
in  bondage.s  Fauche  Borel  escaped  from  the  Temple 
shortly  before  the  conspirators  were  tried. 

All  these  attempts  to  practise  on  Moreau,  all  these 
snares  set  for  him,  which  indicated  the  plans  that 
were  formed  against  him,  and  were  so  many  forecasts 
of  his  approaching  destiny,  failed  with  a  man  who,  to 
secure  his  greater  tranquillity,  disguised  from  himself 

8  [Marg  note  in  pencil,  not  in  Fauriel's  handwriting-.] 
*  Or  at  least  with  the  knowledge."  Another  note  in  the  same 
hand  adds,  "  I  believe  that  he  acted  in  good  faith.'' 


io8        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

all  the  chances  of  success  that  might  have  awaited 
him  had  he  possessed  resolution,  and  cherished  am- 
bition which  he  might  have  reconciled,  if  not  with  the 
best  state  of  things  possible  in  his  country,  at  all 
events  with  a  state  of  things  more  congenial  to 
the  public  mind  than  that  under  which  he  was 
an  object  of  suspicion  and  menace.  But  events 
which  he  was  far  from  foreseeing  were  looming 
in  the  near  future,  and  by  means  still  less  expected, 
he  was  speedily  to  find  himself  condemned  to  play  a 
part  in  them. 

In  the  middle  of  Fiimaire,  year  XII.,  a  second  batch 
of  emissaries  of  the  princes  landed  in  France.  The 
police,  who  were  no  doubt  well  informed  on  the  point, 
reported  the  arrival  of  eight  persons,  of  whom  one  of 
the  sons  of  the  Due  de  Polignac,  and  Coster  Saint 
Victor  were  the  most  important.  Saint  Victor  had 
been  a  marked  man  since  the  year  XIV.,  being 
accused  of  complicity  in  the  affair  of  the  3rd  Nivose, 
and  during  all  the  course  of  the  trial  in  which  he 
afterwards  figured,  he  displayed  nobility  and  firmness 
of  character  which  ought  to  have  moved  just  men  of 
every  shade  of  opinion  to  pity  for  his  fate.  He  was 
vindicated  before  his  execution  from  the  stain  of 
having  contributed  to  the  vile  attempt  of  the  3rd 
Nivose,  that  is  to  say,  he  was  cleared  from  the  charge, 
which  told  most  heavily  against  him,  with  regard  to 
the  second  accusation  under  which  he  had  fallen.  It 
is  probable  that  the  arrival  of  these  men  in  France 
was  not  unconnected  with  the  project  which  had  led 
to  the  despatch  of  Georges  Cadoudal  to  France,  with 
five  or  six  companions  under  his  orders,  three  months 
before ;  but  as  a  reinforcement  of  a  party  of  eight 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        109 

men  who  had  preceded  them,  eight  other  men  could 
barely  be  regarded  as  very  formidable. 

What  is  most  singular  in  the  matter  is  that  almost 
all  of  them  repaired  to  Paris,  although  the  real  forces 
of  their  party,  those  which  they  might  have  used  to 
attain  their  ends,  were  not  there,  and  Paris  was  the 
stronghold  of  the  enemy  whose  eyes  and  hands  they 
had  to  dread.  This  is  accounted  for  by  the  erroneous 
notion  of  the  true  state  of  things  that  they  enter- 
tained, by  the  hopes  they  cherished  that  another 
party  besides  their  own  was  on  the  point  of  uniting 
both  with  the  Consular  Government ;  they  went  to 
Paris  as  it  were  to  await  the  moment  at  which  the 
combined  parties  should  seize  the  fruit  of  victory,  and 
if  necessary  to  lend  them  aid  to  secure  it.  All  their 
delusions  were  the  direct  results  of  the  falsehoods 
with  which  Mehee  had  beguiled  the  emigres  and  the 
principal  agents  of  the  Count  d'Artois  in  London. 

In  no  other  way  can  the  actions  of  the  emissaries 
of  the  princes  be  explained,  and  I  do  not  think  a 
doubt  can  remain  in  any  mind  that  the  interpretation 
I  give  here  is  the  true  one. 

These  fourteen  or  fifteen  men  were  necessarily 
placed  in  a  most  unfavourable  and  perilous  position. 
The  actual  needs  of  life  obliged  them  to  come  in 
contact  with  a  number  of  persons,  to  take  up  their 
abode  in  different  places,  and  to  interchange  com- 
munications from  considerable  distances.  They  were 
at  the  mercy  of  innumerable  accidents,  and  more 
especially  were  they  in  danger  of  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  agents  who  were  employed  by  the  police 
in  what  they  called  the  Chouan  party.  It  was  more 
particularly  essential  for  Georges  Cadoudal  to   hide 


1 10        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

himself,  and  of  this  he  was  fully  aware.  He  took 
every  possible  precaution  against  discovery ;  he  had 
lodgings  in  several  places,  many  secure  retreats,  and 
the  secret  of  these  hiding-places  was  known  to  only 
one  or  two  confidants  among  those  who  were  held  to 
be  his  agents  or  his  accomplices.  The  others  had 
merely  vague  and  speculative  notions  of  his  where- 
abouts. 

In  order  to  form  a  sound  judgment  upon  the  sub- 
sequent events,  we  ought  carefully  to  consider  the 
exact  situation  of  the  men  in  question  under  the 
circumstances  to  which  I  have  just  referred.  Sup- 
posing them  to  be  banded  together  for  a  common 
purpose,  and  that  the  essential  point  of  their  purpose 
was  the  assassination  of  the  First  Consul,  their  posi- 
tion was  not  such  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  them 
to  succeed.  The  opportunity  of  making  such  an 
attempt  might  frequently  present  itself  to  men  whose 
interest  it  was  to  be  on  the  wa^ch  for  such  chances, 
and  it  might  present  itself  efficaciously  to  men 
resolved  upon  the  self-sacrifice  indispensable  in  such 
a  case.  Nevertheless,  it  appears  certain  that  neither 
at  the  period  in  question  nor  at  a  later  date,  had 
any  of  these  men  made  an  attempt  to  approach 
the  First  Consul  with  the  intention  of  assassinat- 
ing him.  The  reason  of  this  is  plain ;  had  they 
succeeded  in  any  such  attempt,  they  would  have 
ruined  themselves,  without  being  sure  of  having 
served  their  party  or  done  anything  to  advance  their 
object,  which  was  the  re-establishment  of  royalty  for 
the  advantage  of  the  Bourbons.  That  was  what  they 
wanted,  or  rather  it  was  what  they  were  induced  to 
wish    for,    by   the   perfidious   persuasion  of  a    man 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,       1 1 1 

who  was  plotting  to  deceive  them.  But  they  wrere 
well  aware  that  in  this  they  could  not  succeed  un- 
aided ;  they  awaited  an  auxiliary,  and  that  auxiliary 
was  no  other  than  the  Jacobin  Committee,  whose 
aid  Mehee  had  promised  the  princes,  the  English 
Ministry,  and  Drake,  and  which  existed  only  in  the 
imagination  of  Mehee  and  the  French  Government. 

It  is  of  great  importance  at  this  point  to  note  the 
fact  that  in  the  month  of  Frimaire  the  police  were 
informed  that  Georges,  and  several  companions  who 
were  to  second  any  projects  which  he  might  have 
formed,  were  in  Paris.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  police  were  not  in  possession  of  the  number 
and  the  names  of  those  who  had  landed  in  France 
with  him,  nor  of  the  hiding-places  of  any  of  them. 
They  certainly  did  not  know  where  Georges  Cadoudal 
was.  The  Ministry  of  Police  might  have  had  him 
sought  for  and  taken,  but  its  designs  were  wider  and 
deeper. 

I  have  already  said  that  Mehee  returned  to  Paris  about 
the  beginning  of  Brumaire.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  he  had  written  from  Altona  to  Louis  XVIIL, 
offering  him  his  services,9  and  that  he  had  received  a 
letter  which  was  probably  an  answer,  but  might  have 
been  intended  for  one  of  Louis's  Warsaw  agents 
at  Paris,  and,  in  that  case  (the  least  probable  of 
the  two),  would  only  have  been  entrusted  to  Mehde. 
This  circumstance,  which  is  not  important,  remains  in 
uncertainty,  because  those  persons  who  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  letter  in  question  have  not 
seen  the  address  ;  it  was  carefully  cut  off. 

9  See  "  Mehee,"  p.  83.  He  has  not  given  the  letter  of  Louis 
XVIII. 


i  12         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

This  letter,  which  fell,  as  it  was  meant  to  fall,  into 
the  hands  of  Bonaparte,  was  of  a  nature  to  merit 
his  serious  attention,  and  to  make  him  uneasy.  It 
was  in  the  handwriting  of  Louis  XVI 1 1.,  and  as  it 
was  addressed  to  a  man  supposed  to  be  zealous  in 
his  service,  and  able  to  do  great  things  towards 
advancing  his  restoration,  the  prince  explained  in  the 
plainest  manner  his  views' of  the  general  conditions 
on  which  his  restoration  to  the  throne  of  his  fathers 
was  to  be  effected.  He  undertook  to  establish  a 
national  representation  by  the  side  of  that  throne, 
and  to  guarantee  civil  liberty.  Certain  other  con- 
cessions, less  important  than  these  two,  but  also 
worthy  of  remark,  were,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  also 
mentioned.1 

We  must  remember  that  at  the  moment  when  Bona- 
parte read  this  letter  he  was  as  yet  only  First  Consul 
of  the  Republic,  but  profoundly  occupied  with  his 
scheme  for  the  establishment  of  the  Empire.  In  his 
known  antipathy  to  the  idea  of  a  national  representa- 
tion, it  is  more  than  likely  that  he  had  often  thought 
of  the  manner  in  which  he  might  do  away  with  both 
the  name  and  the  situation  which  it  signifies,  and 
nothing  was  better  calculated  to  provoke  his  anger 
than  the  disposition  of  Louis  XVIII.  to  make  greater 
concessions  for  the  sake  of  his  royalty,  than  he  (Bona- 
parte) was  prepared  to  make  for  the  prize  of  elevation 
to  Empire. 

He  showed  the  letter  to  Fouche,  either  of  deliberate 


1  [Marg.  note.]  "These  conditions  also  confirmed  the  sale  of 
the  national  property  {biens  nationaux)  in  the  most  formal 
manner,  and  undertook  to  make  the  legalization  of  it  one  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  new  monarchy.'' 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         1 1 3 

purpose,  or  because  he  happened  to  be  at  hand.  I 
do  not  know  whether  Fouche  had  taken  any  part  in 
the  previous  intrigues  ;  but  he  was  to  have  the  direc- 
tion of  all  those  that  ensued,  and  it  was  his  idea  to 
unite  them  and  form  them,  so  to  speak,  into  one  vast 
net  into  which  the  real  or  supposed  enemies  of  Bona- 
parte might  be  driven  at  pleasure. 

To  comprehend  Fouche's  conduct  on  this  occasion, 
it  is  necessary  to  have  some  idea  of  his  character,  and 
to  be  acquainted  with  certain  previous  particulars. 

This  man,  who  was  to  accumulate  upon  his  own 
head  every  sort  of  scandal,  and  to  distinguish  himself 
in  the  most  opposite  excesses  of  the  revolution  ;  he 
who,  as  a. proconsul  in  the  departments,  had  com- 
mitted so  many  ferocious  deeds,  and  had  applauded 
those  which  he  had  only  witnessed  with  almost  de- 
lirious enthusiasm  ;  who  declared  that  the  smoking 
ruins  of  Lyons  furnished  the  kind  of  spectacle  that 
Republics  need,  will  perhaps  furnish  posterity  with 
the  most  striking  example  of  the  facility  with  which 
the  ministers  of  a  liberty  that  is  cruel  and  extravagant 
can  become  the  servile  agents  of  degrading  des- 
potism. Fouche  was  greedy  of  the  kind  of  power  that 
is  exercised  directly  upon  persons ;  simple  in  his  tastes 
and  of  domestic  habits,  capable  of  appearing  to  be 
genuinely  animated  by  the  best  feelings,  and  of  enter- 
taining the  wisest  opinions  when  left  to  himself,  but 
ready  to  sacrifice  every  opinion  and  feeling  so  soon 
as  the  saving  of  his  own  credit  and  influence  was  in 
question  ;  a  combination  of  falsity  and  indiscretion,  of 
cleverness  and  ignorance.  Like  all  those  who  in  their 
passage  through  the  crises  of  the  Revolution  were 
inspired  by  purely  selfish  and  personal   motives,  he 


1 14       The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

had  acquired  a  habit  of  regarding  the  abstract 
principles  of  truth  and  justice  as  stupid  inventions 
which  could  impose  only  upon  fools.  The  influence 
of  Barras  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  Ministry 
of  Police  under  the  Directory,  and  he  kept  himself 
there  by  the  zeal  with  which  he  contributed  to  the 
events  of  the  18th  Brumaire  (although  he  was  not 
called  upon  to  do  so  by  anybody),  and  especially  by 
his  boundless  devotion  to  the  interests  of  Bonaparte, 
and  the  care  with  which  he  promoted  his  authority 
and  aided  all  his  designs. 

Fouchc  held  no  serious  and  convinced  opinions  in 
politics  ;  his  instinct  and  his  speculations  led  him 
naturally  towards  the  ideas  of  the  demagogues ;  but 
the  temptations  of  fortune  and  a  life  which,  if  not 
very  estimable,  was  at  least  stirring,  offered  him 
sufficient  compensation  for  the  service  of  a  despot. 
He  has  always  served  Bonaparte  without  liking  him, 
and  he  has  always  been  afraid  of  him,  for  no  other 
reason  than  because  he  knows  the  innermost  recesses 
of  his  mind  and  character  ;  he  knows  of  what  ruthless 
determination  he  is  capable,  whether  it  be  exercised 
for  the  augmentation  of  his  power  or  the  gratification 
of  an  impulse  of  revenge. 

When  he  was  dismissed  in  year  X.,  he  appeared  to 
be  absorbed  into  the  mere  honorary  nonentity  of  the 
Senate,  but  the  fact  is  that  he  continued  to  act  as 
the  instrument  of  Bonaparte's  curiosity.  At  stated 
intervals  he  brought  him  police  reports,  and  for  this 
he   received  12,000   francs   per   month.2     That   sum, 

*  [Marg.  note,  not  in  the  handwriting  of  Fauriel.]  "  I  believe 
he  did  not  contribute  at  all  to  the  18th  Brumaire,  but  merely 
went  over  with  alacrity  to  the  winning  side." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        115 

and  the  degree  of  influence  which  it  gave  him,  were 
far  from  sufficient  for  his  ambition,  but  it  at  least 
recalled  the  lost  delights  of  his  ministerial  office,  and 
his  retirement  was  of  a  nature  to  enable  him  to 
cherish  the  hope  that  those  lost  delights  might  yet 
be  restored. 

Armed  with  the  letter  of  Louis  XVIII.,  Fouche 
conceived  a  design  which  will  be  regarded  by  posterity 
as  eminently  characteristic  of  the  man  who  formed  it, 
the  government  that  adopted  and  utilized  it,  and  the 
period  in  which  it  was  propounded.  He  resolved 
to  give  a  real  existence,  one  which  should  be  so 
much  the  more  entirely  under  his  governance  in  that 
it  was  his  own  work,  to  that  Jacobin  Committee,  the 
ally  of  the  Royalists,  which  had  been  so  seriously 
taken  into  consideration  by  the  French  princes  in 
London,  the  English  Government,  and  Louis  XVIII., 
that  their  conduct  had  been  determined,  or  at  least 
modified,  by  their  belief  in  it,  but  which  existed  solely 
in  the  brain  of  Mehee.  We  shall  be  able  to  form  a 
sound  judgment  of  what  he  intended  by  this  device 
by  the  attempts  which  were  made  with  various 
degrees  of  success. 

His  first  proceeding  was  to  place  the  letter  of 
Louis  XVIII.  in  the  hands  of  a  personage  who 
was  known  to  have  retained  revolutionary  opinions 
and  Jacobin  sentiments  under  the  Consular  regime. 
This  individual  was  instructed  by  Fouche  to  present 
himself  with  the  letter  as  if  it  had  been  addressed 
to  it,  to  a  certain  Royalist  committee  which  had 
been  discovered,  or  "  suspected,''  through  informa- 
tion derived  directly  from  Mehee  or  some  other 
person.      This  was  the  same  committee  to  which  I 

I  2 


1 1 6         1  he  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

have  already  referred  as  having  Baron  de  la  Roche- 
foucauld as  president,  and  M.  de  Roqucfcuille,  one  of 
its  members,  as  secretary.  It  had  been  called  the 
Warsaw  Committee,  because  it  was  supposed  to 
be  faithfully  devoted  to  the  plans  and  interests  of 
Louis  XVIII. 

This  man  was  instructed  to  negotiate  an  alliance 
between  his  own  party  (the  Jacobins)  and  the  royal 
party  of  Warsaw,  represented  by  the  three  or  four 
persons  of  whom  Baron  de  la  Rochefoucauld  and  M. 
de  Roquefeuille  were  two.  To  what  extent  Fouchc's 
emissary  managed  to  get  into  the  confidence  of  the 
Warsaw  party,  I  do  not  know  ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
his  mission  was  believed  in,  and  that  he  was  accepted, 
on  the  faith  of  the  letter,  in  the  character  of  an  agent 
of  Louis  XVIII.  It  is  equally  certain  that,  acting 
at  the  instigation  of  Fouchc's  agent,  the  royal  Jacobin 
committee  agreed  to  select  Morcau  as  it-;  general,  and 
to  have  proposals  to  that  effect  made  to  him.  I  may 
indeed  confidently  affirm  that  such  proposals  were 
made  to  him.  It  needed  only  a  little  ordinary 
prudence  to  perceive  that  they  must  be  either  in- 
sensate or  highly  suspicious,  and  Aloreau  had,  in  this 
respect,  more  than  ordinary  prudence. 

Besides,  he  had  received  information  which  it  must 
be  supposed  would  be  enough  to  put  him  on  his 
guard  against  any  trap  that  might  be  set  for  him  by 
persons  already  known  to  him. 

After  this  first  operation,  especially  directed  against 
Moreau,  other  Jacobin  emissaries  were  employed  to 
set  in  motion  all  the  sincere  men  still  remaining  in 
the  party  to  which  the  agents  were  supposed  to  belong, 
and  to  unite  themselves,  if  possible,  with  the  opposi- 
tion minority  in  the  Senate,  by  showing  them  how 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        117 

easily  a  combined  effort  against  Bonaparte  might 
bring  about  a  change  in  the  state  of  things.  In 
order  to  facilitate  this  coalition,  which  would  enable 
Bonaparte  to  deal  as  he  should  think  fit  with  the  only 
persons  among  the  authorities  of  the  period  who 
continued  to  give  him  umbrage,  the  pretended  Jaco- 
bins were  artful  enough  to  affect  willingness  to  grant 
all  the  concessions  which  the  moderate  Republicans 
might  require  from  them  after  their  combined  attack 
upon  the  Government. 

These  devices  were  not  altogether  useless.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  true  friends  of  the  Republic, 
but  of  different  shades  of  opinion,  took  for  the  natural 
action  of  a  real  and  active  party  what  was  in  truth 
only  a  sequence  of  the  machinations  of  Fouche.  Men 
who  had  hitherto  been  wanting  neither  in  wisdom 
nor  in  caution,  were  very  near  failing  in  both  on  this 
occasion ;  others,  equally  honest  and  sincere,  but 
more  ardent  and  more  easily  duped,  were  fully 
assured  for  several  days  that  Bonaparte  was  about 
to  be  attacked  in  the  midst  of  the  preparations  for 
his  accession  to  empire.  But,  of  all  the  members  of 
the  Senate  to  whom  the  insinuations  prompted  by 
Fouche  were  addressed,  not  one  lent  an  ear  to  them. 
Either  they  had  received  information  which  had  put 
them  on  their  guard,  or  they  were  resolved  to  abstain 
from  any  line  of  action  that  would  require  energy  and 
courage  ;  at  any  rate  they  discarded  Fouche  s  emis- 
saries, and  remained  perfectly  quiet.  It  is  not  in- 
appropriate to  name  the  most  zealous  of  those  agents 
■ — an  individual  who  seemed  fully  to  enter  into  the 
views  of  his  employer.  This  was  one  Thureau,*  who 
3  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  whither  he  was  sent. 


1 1 8        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

was  afterwards  rewarded  with  a  consulship  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Almost  at  the  same  time,  Fouche  sent  to  Warsaw 
another  agent,  who,  profiting  by  all  the  information 
within  Fouche  s  reach  at  that  time,  and  probably  by 
that  which  he  must  have  obtained  from  the  Warsaw 
Committee  in  Paris,  was  instructed  to  collect  all  the 
particulars  of  the  "  exterior  "  plots,  of  which  the  police 
held  the  thread,  and  were  indeed  themselves  willing  to 
concoct.  This  mission  was  a  sort  of  pendant  to  that 
of  Mehec,  or  an  imitation  of  it ;  it  is  probable  that  it 
had  no  very  brilliant  result,  but,  nevertheless,  the 
emissary  was  rewarded  for  having  desired,  if  not  done 
much.  This  lucky  instrument  of  unscrupulous  em- 
ployers is  at  present  Commissary-General  of  Police 
at  a  seaboard  station,  and  he  was  Fouches  private 
secretary  during  his  first  term  of  office.4 

I  now  approach  the  most  significant  event  of  all 
those  that  preceded  the  conspiracy  whose  origin  and 
development  I  am  endeavouring  to  explain,  and  lent 
it  that  appearance  of  gravity  which  Bonaparte  has 
turned  to  advantage  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
purpose,  although  not  to  so  much  advantage  as  he 
hoped  in  the  first  instance. 

It  is  time  for  me  to  speak  of  a  man  of  whom  I 
shall  have  much  to  say  hereafter ;  of  him  whose  sin- 
gular destiny  it  was  to  bestow  celebrity  upon  the 
role  of  a  powerless  agent  of  the  fugitive  princes,  who 
were  held  in  but  scant  honour ;  and  to  cast  discredit 
upon  that  of  a  general  of  the  great  army  of  a  great 

4  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  this  person's  name.  Fauriel, 
who  was  also  one  of  Fouches  secretaries  for  several  months, 
must  have  known  him  well. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        119 

Republic,  whose  troops  he  had  often  led  to  victory ; 
in  a  word,  of  Pichegru. 

He  was  at  this  time  residing  in  London,  with  the 
Count  d'Artois,  and  was,  it  appears,  but  ill-satisfied 
with  that  prince,  and  with  the  role  assigned  to  him- 
self. It  also  appears  that  he  was  sincerely  desirous 
of  returning  to  France,  and  that  the  soundings  which 
had  been  made  in  the  direction  of  Bonaparte  with 
this  intention  were  not  made  without  his  knowledge 
and  consent.  He  affected  a  haughty  and  ill-humoured 
demeanour  towards  the  princes  and  their  favourite 
agents  ;  this  probably  arose  from  the  fact  that  his 
new  party  resented  his  not  having  always  belonged 
to  it,  or  not  having  served  it  more  effectually,  con- 
sidering the  ample  power  to  do  so  that  he  possessed  at 
a  time  when  he  was  already  devoted  to  the  Bourbons. 
He  was  in  London  while  Mehee  was  carrying  on  there 
what  has  since  been  called  his  "  diplomatic  negotia- 
tion." It  is  probable  that  he  was  less  affected  than 
those  with  whose  cause  he  had  allied  himself,  having 
betrayed  that  of  the  Republic  by  all  the  persuasions 
which  Mehee  used  to  lead  the  princes  into  some  rash 
enterprise  against  Bonaparte's  Government.  At  least, 
his  name  has  not  been  mentioned  among  the  names 
of  the  credulous  persons  whom  Mehee  boasted  of 
having  cajoled  during  his  stay  in  London. 

Pichegru  was,  however,  the  man  whom  the  police 
were  most  anxious  to  entrap  into  the  plot  which  they 
were  promoting  and  watching  at  the  same  time  ;  in 
the  first  place  because  the  very  name  of  Pichegru,  of 
a  man  who  had  not  betrayed  I7 ranee  until  after  he 
had  won  the  highest  renown  in  arms  for  the  country, 
would  give  the  imposing  air   of  conspiracy  to  what 


1 20        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

would  otherwise  pass  for  a  mere  wretched  piece  of 
scheming  ;  and  secondly,  Pichegru  was  the  only  man 
through  whom  Moreau  could  be  compromised  with  the 
party  of  which  Georges  Cadoudal  was  the  chief.  All 
the  other  snares  that  had  been  laid  for  Moreau  had 
failed  to  produce  any  result  through  which  it  would  be 
possible  to  ruin  him  without  an  absolute  departure 
from  all  the  forms  of  justice  ;  this,  then,  was  the  only 
resource  remaining  to  be  employed  against  him.  It 
presented  the  best  chances  of  success,  and  its  results 
would  be  the  gravest:  According  to  the  notion  of 
Cadoudal  generally  entertained  at  that  period,  the 
Government  and  the  police  were  fully  authorized  in 
believing  that  the  slightest  appearance  of  an  associa- 
tion between  General  Moreau  and  the  Chouan  leader 
would  enable  them  to  secure,  if  not  the  destruction, 
at  least  the  dishonour,  of  the  conqueror  of  Hohcn- 
linden,  and  even  this  was  worth  the  trouble  of  an 
experiment. 

If  the  Count  d'Artois  and  his  Council  really  enter- 
tained hopes  of  being  seconded  in  their  attacks  upon 
Bonaparte  by  a  party  organized  in  the  interior  of 
France,  and  regarded  by  them  as  either  their  ally  or 
their  unconscious  auxiliary,  it  would  have  been  per- 
fectly natural  for  the  prince  and  his  advisers  to 
endeavour  to  inspire  Pichegru  with  the  same  hopes, 
and  to  induce  him  to  ensure  their  realization  by  asso- 
ciating himself  with  the  project  that  had  been  formed. 
Pichegru 's  conduct  leads  us  to  suppose  that  they  suc- 
ceeded in  this.  I  say  "  to  suppose,"  for  I  am  entirely 
ignorant  of  what  the  ideas  and  intentions  of  Pichegru 
had  been,  prior  to  the  circumstance  I  am  about  to 
relate. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        121 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Lajolais  had  retired 
to  Alsace  almost  immediately  after  his  visits  to 
Moreau.  (The  intention  of  those  visits  I  have  de- 
clined to  define,  because  I  have  not  sufficient  data  to 
enable  me  to  do  so  with  fairness.)  Four  or  five 
months  passed  away,  and  nobody  had  heard  anything 
about  him,  or,  probably,  speculated  at  all  upon  what 
he  was  doing.  He  returned  to  Paris  at  the  end  of 
Brumaire  or  beginning  of  Frimaire,  year  XII.  It 
matters  little  to  the  purpose  of  my  narrative  to  know 
whether  he  had  or  had  not  any  relations  with  the 
police  previous  to  this  journey;  I  entertain  no 
doubt  of  the  fact  that  he  then  opened  communi- 
cations with  that  authority,  or  rather  with  Fouche, 
who  was  the  animating  spirit  of  all  its  proceedings. 
He  was  instructed  to  go  at  once  to  London,  there  to 
see  Pichegru,  to  represent  to  him  in  flaming  colours 
the  chances  of  a  conspiracy,  into  which  Moreau  was 
disposed  to  enter  with  him  (Pichegru),  being  more 
sincerely  and  effectually  reconciled  with  him  than 
ever.  He  was  to  add  that  the  enmity  of  Moreau  and 
the  nation  to  Bonaparte  was  greatly  increased,  and 
quite  ready  to  break  out,  that  the  parties  in  opposi- 
tion to  him  were  reinforced  daily,  and  there  was  more 
reason  than  ever  to  believe  that  the  party  of  Louis 
XVIII.  would,  by  adroitly  availing  itself  of  this  op- 
portunity, carry  off  the  fruits  of  success. 

It  is  needless  to  observe  that  the  most  important 
part  of  his  instructions  was  an  injunction  to  admit,  as 
Pichegru's  accomplice,  all  that  he  had  done  at  the 
instigation  of  the  police,  of  course  colouring  his  ad- 
missions so  as  to  remove  the  appearance  of  a  prepared 
statement ;  it  was  also  a  matter  of  course  that  he  was 


122        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

to  assume  the  character  of  Moreau's  deputy,  and  the 
bearer  of  his  intentions  and  projects  to  Pichegru.  A 
more  remarkable  feature  of  this  singular  supposed 
embassy,  of  which  Moreau  was  the  assumed  instigator, 
was  that  the  man  to  whom  the  role  of  the  general's 
emissary  was  assigned  had  not  seen  him  for  five 
months,  that  the  date  at  which  he  was  understood  to 
have  received  his  commission  was  necessarily  that  of 
their  last  interview,  and  lastly,  that  Lajolais,  returning 
to  Paris  after  five  months,  for  the  purpose  of  fulfilling 
a  commission  in  England  for  Moreau,  did  not  sec  him 
in  passing  through.  I  have  thought  it  all  the  more 
important  to  take  note  of  these  circumstances  because 
the  French  Government  made  no  allusion  to  them  in 
the  official  report  of  the  subsequent  events  when  the 
convenient  time  to  reveal  them  had  arrived,  and  even 
propounded  supposititious  circumstances  which  were 
in  contradiction  with  the  above  incontrovertible  par- 
ticulars. 

Having  apprised  Pichegru  of  his  intended  visit 
to  England,  Lajolais  left  Paris,  furnished  with  the 
instructions  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  place  before 
the  reader  in  their  plain  and  simple  sense,  passing 
through  Germany,  the  only  route  possible  at  that 
time  for  a  journey  which  was  intended  to  have  all 
the  appearance  of  being  mysterious  and  clandestine. 
He  arrived  in  London  between  the  20th  and  the  25th 
Frimaire.  A  month  later,  Pichegru,  Lajolais,  and 
three  or  four  other  unimportant  persons  landed  on 
the  coast  near  Havre.5      There  they  separated  and 

6  According  to  the  Listc  des  Brigands,  published  on  the  16th 
Ventose,  in  the  Moniteur,  they  landed  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  at 
Rivelle. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Constdale.        123 

went  their  way  to  Paris  by  different  routes.  Lajolais 
arrived  in  Paris  on  the  1st  Pluviose.  Pichegru,  whom 
Georges  Cadoudal  had  gone  to  meet,  arrived  on  the 
next  day,  and  went  to  lodge  at  Chaillot  in  a  house 
which  had  been  hired  for  Bouvet  Lozier6  by  Marie 
Adelaide  Turgot,  a  member  of  the  Turgot  family,  of 
whom  more  will  be  heard  when  we  come  to  the  narra- 
tive of  the  trial.  Cadoudal  was  concealed  in  the  same 
house.  This  circumstance  of  Georges  going  to  meet 
Pichegru  calls  for  remark.  It  cannot  be  called  in 
question,  although  it  was  steadily  denied  by  both 
Georges  and  Pichegru,7  against  the  incontrovertible 
evidence  of  its  truth. 

It  was  a  great  thing  for  the  police  that  Pichegru 
was  in  Paris,  and  especially  that  he  was  with 
Cadoudal  and  other  men,  whom  the  public  would 
certainly  not  credit  with  any  harmless  purpose. 
Still  this  was  not  enough  for  what  the  police  wanted, 
and  the  Government  considered  necessary.  The 
essence  of  the  design,  the  real  depth  of  the  contri- 
vance, was  the  bringing  of  Moreau  into  relations  not 
only  with  Pichegru  (which  might  have  been  sufficient 
if  more  had  proved  impossible),  but  with  Georges, 
which  was  far  more  important.  The  former  was  not 
difficult — indeed  it  was  almost  inevitable,  considering 
the  impression  which  had  been  given  to  Pichegru  of 
the  ideas  and  intentions  of  Moreau,  and  the  assurances 

6  A.  H.  Bouvet  de  Lozier,  born  in  Paris  in  1769.  He  was 
tried  with  Cadoudal,  and  sentenced  to  death,  but  the  sentence 
was  commuted  to  imprisonment,  followed  by  transportation. 

7  See  the  examination  of  Pichegru  by  Real  and  Dubois  on 
the  8th  Ventose.  "  Did  you  see  Georges  in  Paris?  "  "  Not  at 
all."  ''Did  you  go  a  part  of  the  way  from  the  farm  of  La 
Pelerie  to  Paris  with  Georges?"  "No." — Recueil  des  inter- 
ro°atoires  subis par  le  General  Moreau,  et  quclqucs-uns  de  ses 
co-accuses.     Paris,  de  I '  imprimerie  imperiale,  an  Xll. 


124        1  he  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

sent  by  Moreau  to  Pichegru  that  he  was  not  his 
enemy,  but,  on  the  contrary,  took  a  lively  interest 
in  the  general's  fortunes.  The  latter  was  far  from 
being  impossible,  because,  although  there  was  no 
absolute  community  of  design  and  feeling  between 
Pichegru  and  Cadoudal,  it  was  likely  enough  that 
they  might  be  drawn  together  sufficiently  to  act  in 
concert  in  some  particular  matter. 

Again,  Lajolais  was  the  very  person  who  could 
best  secure  the  carrying  out  of  the  views  of  the  police. 
The  great  difficulty  had  been  surmounted  ;  Pichegru 
was  in  Paris. 

At  this  point  I  must  enter  into  some  details  which 
may  appear  trifling  in  themselves,  but  are  neverthe- 
less indispensable,  because  they  furnish  a  key  to 
later  and  much  more  interesting  events,  which  can- 
not be  justly  appreciated  without  a  knowledge  of 
their  primary  source  and  progressive  development. 
I  shall  endeavour  to  say  no  more  than  is  necessary 
to  a  true  comprehension  and  a  just  judgment  of  facts 
which  can  never  fail  to  arouse  the  curiosity  of 
mankind,  and  will  in  the  future  serve  to  instruct 
nations  ;  if  the  latter  be  not  condemned  to  vegetate 
in  hopeless  degradation,  mere  toys  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  govern  them  for  their  passions  or  their 
pleasure. 

The  stirring  scenes,  the  unexpected  catastrophes 
that  fill  the  pages  of  history  will  not  be  wanting  in 
the  course  of  this  narrative  ;  it  is  for  me  to  connect 
those  scenes  and  those  catastrophes  with  their  secret 
causes  and  motives,  in  so  far  as  it  is  in  my  power 
to  do  so.  The  position  I  occupied  was  one  in  which 
I  could  not  gain  a  knowledge  of  everything,  and  the 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       125 

time  rendered  the  investigation  of  the  truth  the 
greatest  of  all  dangers  next  to  that  of  telling  it. 

On  the  3rd  Pluviose,  two  days  after  his  return  to 
Paris  from  England,  Lajolais  paid  a  visit  to  Moreau 
for  the  purpose  of  announcing  Pichegru's  arrival  in 
France  and  his  intention  of  coming  to  Paris,  without, 
we  may  be  sure,  giving  any  hint  of  the  kind  or  degree 
of  influence  which  he  had  exercised  on  this  strange 
determination  of  the  general's.  He  requested  Moreau 
to  make  an  appointment  for  seeing  Pichegru,  and  it 
is  evident  that  Moreau  can  neither  have  heard  the 
unexpected  news  of  his  arrival  without  misgiving,  nor 
been  unconscious  of  the  sort  of  impropriety  that 
was  involved  in  an  arrangement  for  their  meeting. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  be  weak  and  timid  in  order 
to  feel  this  ;  ordinary  prudence  suggested  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  refuse 
to  see  one  who  had  been  his  master  in  the  art  of 
war.  his  friend,  and  to  whom  he  had  sent  repeated 
assurances  of  reconciliation  within  the  past  year. 
The  more  hazardous  Pichegru's  position  was,  the 
greater  risk  of  proscription  he  ran,  the  more  impera- 
tively did  honour  and  generosity  forbid  Moreau's 
acting  in  a  way  which  could  only  be  interpreted  as 
preconcerted  perfidy,  or  at  the  least,  cowardly  selfish- 
ness. 

Moreau  did,  therefore,  make  the  appointment  for 
which  Lajolais  asked,  but  he  did  so  with  ill-disguised 
reluctance,  and  postponed  the  meeting  for  three  days 
on  the  pretext  of  a  shooting-party.  Now  this  was  a 
reasonable  enough  pretext  for  a  man  i.n  Moreau's 
state  of  mind,  but  it  would  have  been  inconceivable 
if  offered  by  one  who  was  expecting  a  co-conspirator 


126        TJic  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

in  the  person  in  question.  It  was  arranged  that 
Moreau  and  Pichegru  should  meet  on  the  Boulevard 
de  la  Madeleine,  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  on  the  6th  Pluviose.  There  happened 
to  be  a  full  moon  that  day.  The  appointment  was 
requested  for  Pichegru  only.  It  may  be,  however, 
that  during  this  visit  from  Lajolais,  Moreau  learned 
that  Cadoudal  was  in  Paris,  a  secret  hitherto  known 
only  to  the  police. 

During  the  interval  that  elapsed  between  the  3rd 
and  the  6th  Pluviose,  Lajolais  took  certain  steps 
which  furnished  the  two  principal  incidents  of  the 
approaching  conspiracy. 

On  the  4th,  the  day  after  his  interview  with  Moreau, 
he  made  a  visit  to  Rolland.  The  motives  for  this 
seem  natural  and  simple  enough,  but  they  are  not 
quite  so  easy  to  define  as  they  seem  to  be.8 

Rolland  had  necessarily  been  brought  in  contact 
with  Pichegru  during  the  general's  command,  and  had, 
it  appears,  entertained  both  affection  and  esteem  for 
him.  Rolland  then  held  a  high  post  in  the  adminis- 
trative service  of  the  French  army,  and  still  occupied 
it  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing.  He  had  also 
been  acquainted  with  Moreau  and  Lajolais,  who  served 
with  Pichegru  and  under  his  command.  He  occa- 
sionally saw  the  former,  and  had  kept  up  tolerably 
intimate  relations  with  the  latter.      Just    before   he 

8  Henri  Odille  Pierre  Jean  Rolland,  born  at  Dieppe  in  1759. 
At  the  period  of  the  Revolution  he  became  commissary-general 
of  the  military  transport  service,  and  thus  he  was  brought  into 
personal  relations  with  Pichegru  and  Moreau.  He  was  arrested 
on  the  25th  Pluviose,  and  sentenced  to  two  years' imprisonment 
in  a  fortress.  "  It  was  generally  believed,"  says  "  La  Biographie 
Moderne  "  (vol.  iii.  p.  207),  "  that  the  revelations  which  he  made 
saved  him." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        127 

left  Paris  for  England,  Lajolais  called  on  Rolland  and 
confided  his  project  to  him,  but  in  general  and  vague 
terms.  It  seemed,  therefore,  only  natural  that  he 
should  come  to  him  on  his  return,  and  inform  him 
of  the  result  of  his  journey  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  the 
arrival  of  Pichegru  in  France.  The  interview  was 
strictly  confined  to  this  confidence  on  the  part  of 
Lajolais,  and  to  expressions  of  goodwill  towards 
Pichegru  on  the  part  of  Rolland.  (See  "  Recueil  des 
Interrogatoires,"  p.  44  and  following.) 

On  the  1 6th  Pluviose — famous  and  eventful  day — 
the  interview  between  Pichegru  and  Moreau  took  place. 
On  the  one  hand  Lajolais  went  to  Moreau's  abode  to 
bring  him  to  the  spot  agreed  upon,  and  on  the  other, 
Bouvet  Lozier  made  sure  of  the  attendance  of 
Pichegru,  who  was  lodging  with  him  at  the  time. 
But  Pichegru  did  not  present  himself  alone  ;  another 
person  was  with  him,  no  other  than  Georges  Cadou- 
dal. 

On  his  way  to  the  appointed  place  of  meeting,  and 
when  he  was  quite  near  to  the  spot,  Moreau,  actuated 
either  by  the  general  uneasiness  which  he  naturally 
felt,  or  disturbed  by  a  vague  presentiment  of  the 
chances  that  might  occur  in  such  a  case,  asked 
Lajolais  whether  Pichegru  would  really  be  alone,  as 
he  (Moreau)  expected  him  to  be.  Lajolais,  who 
could  not  possibly  ignore  the  fact,  and  who  had 
indeed  taken  all  the  necessary  steps  to  secure  the 
presence  of  Georges,  was  obliged  to  acknowledge 
the  truth.  A  moment  after,  Georges,  Moreau,  and 
Pichegru  met,  but  Moreau  crossed  over  to  the  opposite 
side  of  the  boulevard  immediately  on  receiving  the 
answer  of  Lajolais,  and  the  arranged   interview  did 


128        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

not  take  place.  That  evening,  Moreau  saw  neither 
Cadoudal  nor  Pichegru  himself. 

It  is  probable  that  all  those  who  had  expecte  1  to 
find  Moreau  at  the  place  agreed  on,  and  to  confer 
with  him,  were  taken  aback  by  an  occurrence  which 
routed  their  expectations  so  completely,  and  under 
their  own  eyes.  But,  of  the  whole  party,  Lajolais, 
who  had  given  a  pledge  to  the  police  which  the 
accident  of  Moreau's  question  had  rendered  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  redeem,  must  have  been  the  most 
thoroughly  disconcerted.  He  adopted  a  course 
which  plunged  him  still  deeper  into  infamy. 
Instead  of  telling  the  police  the  pure  and  simple 
truth  of  what  had  just  occurred,  and  acknowledging 
that  his  plan  had  failed,  he  described  things  as  they 
ought  to  have  been,  and  as  they  were  on  the  point 
of  being.  The  police  did  then  really  believe  that 
Moreau  had  seen  Georges  at  the  same  time  as 
Pichegru,  and  this  important  and  singular  error,  by 
which  that  authority  was,  so  to  speak,  caught  in  its 
own  net,  supplies  the  key  to  several  subsequent 
incidents  on  which  I  shall  dwell  hereafter. 

From  that  moment  the  police  regarded  them- 
selves as  fully  triumphant  and  sure  of  success,  and 
though  they  waited  for  fresh  incidents,  they  did  so 
rather  for  the  sake  of  having  more  details  to  enhance 
the  sensation  which  they  were  about  to  create,  than 
because  they  feared  the  evidence  to  be  produced 
would  be  insufficient  to  crush  the  enemies  whom 
they  had  brought,  as  they  believed,  to  the  desired 
point.  Many  things  were  done  between  the  5th  and 
1 2th  Pluviose  in  preparation  for  a  prosecution  in 
elaborate  form  of  the  "conspiracy"  whose  principals, 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         129 

accomplices,  and  agents  had  been  brought  together 
by  so  specious  a  contrivance  ;  but  at  present  I  shall 
narrate  only  those  circumstances  which  were  intended 
to  be  used  against  Moreau. 

At  length,  on  the  13th  Pluviose,  Moreau  and 
Pichegru  met  for  the  first  time  since  the  year  V.  of 
the  Republic  ;  after  many  strange  events,  in  which 
they  had  taken  widely  different  parts.  Pichegru 
visited  Moreau,  accompanied  by  Lajolais  and  Cou- 
chery,  the  brother  of  oneCouchery9  who  had  been  ex- 
patriated after  the  18th  Fructidor,  and  had  afterwards 
lived  in  London  in  intimate  association  with  Pichegru, 
to  whom  since  the  year  V.  he  appears  to  have  been 
entirely  subservient.  I  have  grounds  for  believing 
that  Pichegru's  visit  was  entirely  unexpected  by 
Moreau.  It  was  brief,  commonplace,  limited  to 
expressions  of  friendship,  and  greatly  embarrassed 
by  mutual  uneasiness  and  constraint.  Moreau,  who 
could  not  be  free  from  suspicion  respecting  the 
character  of  Lajolais,  signified  to  that  individual  that 
he  must  not  intrude  into  his  presence  for  the  future. 

Lajolais,  being  thus  cut  off  from  communication 
with  Moreau,  had  to  fall  back  upon  Rolland  ;  he  went 
at  once  to  the  latter,  and  besought  him  in  the  name 
of  their  common  friendship  for  Pichegru  to  beg 
Moreau  to  afford  a  refuge  to  the  illustrious  general. 
Rolland,  who  had  been  quite  sincere  up  to  this  time 

9  J.  B.  Couchery,  member  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred 
(1795),  condemned  to  expatriation  after  the  18th  Fructidor, 
retired  to  Germany,  and  was  recalled  by  the  consuls  in  Decem- 
ber, 1799  ;  but  he  hastened  to  rejoin  Pichegru  in  London,  where 
he  edited  a  French  newspaper  for  a  long  time.  His  brother 
Victor,  who  is  in  question  here,  was  arrested  on  the  28th  of 
March,  tried  with  Georges,  and  sentenced  to  two  years'  im- 
prisonment. 

K 


1 30        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

in  his  interest  in  Pichegru  and  in  all  that  he  had  done, 
or  rather  had  seemed  disposed  to  do,  and  who  had 
no  suspicion  whatever  of  what  was  going  on,  carried 
Pichegru's  request  to  Moreau.  It  was  refused,  with 
expressions  of  regret,  probably  sincere,  and  from 
motives  which  were  much  more  grave  than  Moreau 
then  believed  them  to  be.  (See  u  Recueil  des  Inter- 
rogatoires,"  p.  57.) 

If  Pichegru  had  taken  refuge  in  Moreau's  house, 
it  is  likely  that  he  would  have  been  arrested  there, 
and  the  police  would  have  made  the  prearran 
demonstration  on  the  spot.  Lajolais,  finding  that 
Moreau  persisted  in  holding  aloof,  and  feeling  that 
he  could  no  longer  use  Rolland  as  a  means  of  per- 
suading him  to  take  the  bait  that  was  set  for  him, 
requested  Rolland  himself  to  receive  Pichegru. 
Rolland  consented,  and  Pichegru  took  up  his  abode 
with  him  on  the  15th  Pluviose. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  ideas  and  the 
apprehensions  of  Pichegru,  there  was  no  change 
in  his  personal  motives  for  seeing  Moreau,  or  even 
in  those  which  might  relate  to  hostile  projects 
against  the  Government.  Nothing  had  yet  occurred 
to  enlighten  him  as  to  the  deception  that  Lajolais 
had  practised  upon  him  respecting  the  state  of 
things  in  France,  and  the  chances  of  an  uprising 
favourable  to  the  Bourbons.  The  day  after  his 
arrival  at  Rolland's  house,  he  requested  Rolland 
to  go  to  Moreau  and  ask  him  to  make  a  second 
appointment.  Moreau  could  not  absolutely  refuse 
to  hold  any  communication  with  Pichegru,  but  he 
was  afraid  to  receive  him,  so  he  sent  Fresnieres,  his 
secretary,  to  Rolland's,  to  learn  from  Pichegru's  own 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        131 

lips  what  it  was  he  wished  to  say,  and  to  repeat  it  to 
him.  Fresnieres  acted  on  his  instructions  ;  he  went 
to  Rolland's  house  and  saw  Pichegru  ;  but  the  latter, 
either  because  he  did  not  choose  to  confide  in  a 
third  person,  or  because  he  wanted  to  have  a  de- 
cided explanation  with  Moreau,  bade  the  secretary 
take  him  at  once  to  the  general.  Thus  was  brought 
about  the  second  and  last  interview  between  Piche- 
gru and  Moreau.  It  is  necessary  to  observe  that 
Lajolais  accompanied  Pichegru  on  this  occasion 
also  ;  but  as  he  dared  not  enter  Moreau's  house  after 
the  express  prohibition  he  had  received,  he  waited 
outside  in  the  street  for  Pichegru.  Hence  the 
police  could  make  use  of  him  only  as  a  witness  to 
the  fact  of  Pichegru's  visit  to  Moreau,  but  not  as 
a  reporter  of  the  conversation  between  the  two 
generals. 

And  now,  who  is  there  that  can  tell  us  what  passed 
at  that  interview  ?  Of  the  two  persons  between  whom 
it  took  place,  one  has  died  without  having  related  a 
single  word  of  their  conversation  to  anybody,  without 
having  done  anything  beyond  revealing,  in  a  vague 
and  general  way,  that  he  was  displeased  with  Moreau, 
whom  he  suspected  on  that  occasion  of  motives  of 
personal  ambition,  of  which  he  had  hitherto  held 
him  guiltless.  And  to  whom  was  that  revelation 
made  ?  To  one  single  man,  who,  as  we  shall 
presently  see,  suddenly  changed  his  character  and 
his  rdle,  and,  in  the  interest  of  his  own  safety, 
betrayed  the  two  men  for  whom  he  had  acted  as  a 
go-between,  without  having  any  private  object  to 
gain,  and  even  against  the  express  desire  of  one  of 
them.     As   for  the  other  personage   (Moreau),  now 

K   2 


132         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

living  in  exile  in  a  distant  land,  he  has  said  what  was 
fitting  and  necessary  for  his  judicial  justification,  to 
which  nothing  was  wanting,  but  not  for  the  integrity 
of  history,  which  has  to  judge  men  and  actions  from 
a  far  more  general  and  less  strict  point  of  view  than 
a  tribunal  of  justice.  And  besides,  even  were  the 
truth  known  with  more  precision  than  it  can  be  from 
the  judicial  interrogation  of  a  man  in  the  situation  of 
Moreau,  could  it  be  told  while  the  oppressors  are  still 
in  all  the  plenitude  of  the  power  that  they  have  used 
against  him  ?  It  is  one  of  the  drawbacks  of  contem- 
porary history  that  the  interests  of  humanity  itself 
require  the  truth  to  be  told  with  adroit  reservations 
only,  which  afford  greater  advantages  to  the  tyranny 
of  a  man,  and  more  pretexts  for  the  misfortunes  of 
an  epoch,  than  either  would  have  were  the  negative 
evidence  of  silence  on  events  which  everybody  has 
witnessed  afforded  to  the  world. 

At  all  events,  I  shall  not  say  anything  contrary  to 
what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth  concerning  the  circum- 
stances to  which  I  am  now  referring.  Moreau  has 
become  sufficiently  great  to  hear  the  voice  of  posterity 
already  ;  and  nothing,  it  seems  to  me,  can  add  to  the 
enmity  of  his  oppressor,  or  furnish  the  latter  with  arms 
against  him  which  he  has  not  already  employed. 

From  all  the  direct  information  that  it  has  been 
possible  for  me  to  obtain,  and  from  all  the  deduc- 
tions I  have  drawn  from  the  collected  and  compared 
facts,  I  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  in  this 
last  conversation  between  Moreau  and  Pichegru, 
the  latter  made  overtures  relating  to  the  possibility 
of  a  plot  for  the  overthrow  of  Bonaparte,  and  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  and  the  chances  of  its 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         133 

success.  I  believe,  too,  that  Moreau's  answers  were 
vague  and  equivocal  upon  the  first  point,  but  clear 
and  positive  upon  the  second.  I  have  no  doubt  he 
explained  to  Pichegru  the  absurdity  of  such  a  design 
under  the  circumstances. 

Pichegru,  who  had  come  to  this  interview  full  of 
the  hopes  with  which  he  had  been  inspired  by  the 
persons  whose  sole  object  had  been  to  lay  a  fatal 
snare  for  Moreau,  was  necessarily  dissatisfied  with 
him.  He  could  only  regard  Moreau  as  one  who, 
without  being  positively  resolved  upon  conspiring 
for  the  Republic,  would  not  have  rejected  the 
chance  of  doing  so  if  it  had  been  presented  to 
him,  all  ready  made  by  other  people ;  but  who 
was  nevertheless  resolved  not  to  conspire  for  the 
Bourbons. 

It  was  from  the  angry  mood  in  which  Pichegru 
returned  to  Rolland's  house,  and  from  some  broken 
sentences  on  the  subject  of  the  conference  he  had 
just  held  with  Moreau,  that  Rolland  first  clearly 
perceived  what  was  the  real  object  that  had 
brought  the  general  to  Paris.1  His  first  thought 
was  how  to  get  rid  of  a  guest  so  dangerous,  and  yet 
one  whom  he  was  bound  to  treat  with  consideration. 
He  made  a  pretext  of  a  journey  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  as  a  military  inspector  ;  and,  on  the  27th 
Pluviose,  Pichegru,  who  had  passed  only  two  nights 
in  Rolland's  house,  was  obliged  to  seek  afresh  refuge. 
This  he  either  asked  of  Lajolais,  or  accepted  from 
him. 

1  [Marg.  note.]  "He  was  not  really  much  frightened  until  the 
return  from  Moreau's.  It  was  only  then  that  he  sought  for 
pretexts  to  get  rid  of  Pichegru." 


134         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Before  leaving  Holland's  house,  however,  Pichegru 
begged  his  reluctant  host  to  go  to  Moreau  on  his 
behalf,  and  ask  for  his  4<  last  word  "  upon  the  over- 
tures of  the  preceding  day.  Holland  complied 
unwillingly  as  it  appears,  and  Moreau  was  so 
indiscreet  as  to  answer  him  very  much  as  he  ha  1 
answered  Pichegru  ;  but  probably  stating  more  pre- 
cisely and  clearly  that  he  would  not  make  common 
cause  with  the  agents  of  the  Bourbons,  for  the  sake 
of  the  Bourbons,  and  that,  if  any  change  in  the  actual 
state  of  things  was  to  be  brought  about,  that  change 
ought  to  be  dictated  by  public  opinion.  Now  what 
Moreau  thought,  and  even  what  he  had  expressed  to 
Pichegru,  was  that  public  opinion  was  not  favourable 
to  the  Bourbons.  I  think  it  well  to  repeat  literally  at 
this  point,  the  answer  made  by  Moreau  to  Holland, 
just  as  it  was  repeated  to  the  police  by  the  latter,  and 
inserted  in  the  act  of  accusation  against  Moreau. 

"  I  cannot  put  myself  at  the  head  of  any  move- 
ment," Moreau  is  reported  to  have  said,  "if  Pichegru 
takes  action  in  another  sense  (and  in  that  case  I  have- 
said  to  him  it  would  be  necessary  the  Consuls  and 
the  Governor  of  Paris  should  disappear).  I  think  I 
have  a  strong  enough  party  in  the  Senate  to  obtain 
authority.  I  will  make  use  of  it  immediately  to  put 
his  people  in  safety  (a  convert),  and  afterwards  public 
opinion  will  dictate  what  it  will  be  well  to  do."  (See 
the  "  Proces,"  vol.  ii.)  In  all  this  there  is  an  appearance 
of  keeping  as  close  as  possible  to  Moreau's  own 
words,  and  they  express  the  mind  of  the  general  on 
the  matter  with  sufficient  exactness. 

One  peculiarity  which  it  is  equally  easy  and  im- 
portant to  remark,  is  that  all  Holland's  proceedings 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         135 

with  regard  to  Pichegru,  and  their  results,  were 
necessarily  known  to  Lajolais,  who  continued  to  be 
the  confidant  of  Pichegru  and  Rolland  after  he  had 
been  discarded  by  Moreau  ;  this  is  equivalent  to 
saying  that  the  police  were  fully  informed  of  them. 
The  last  interview  between  Moreau  and  Rolland  took 
place  on  the  18th  Pluviose  ;  this  was  the  last  fact  re- 
lating to  the  conspiracy,  and  it  immediately  preceded 
the  exposure  made  by  the  police. 

From  that  moment,  the  events  which  I  have  to 
relate  changed  their  character  and  aspect.  All  those 
events  are  the  result  of  a  series  of  intrigues  whose 
existence,  motives,  and  chief  incidents  cannot  be  held 
in  doubt  by  any  person  who  is  even  tolerably  well 
informed  with  regard  to  the  afTairs  of  France  at  the 
period  with  which  I  am  dealing.  But  the  details,  and 
the  complete  sequence  and  order  of  those  intrigues 
could  not  be  supplied  without  greater  and  more 
various  knowledge  than  I  have  been  enabled  to  obtain. 
Of  the  facts  that  I  should  have  required  to  ascertain, 
some  remain  concealed  in  foreign  countries,  from 
whence  it  is  hard  for  them  to  reach  France,  so  as 
to  correct  the  accounts  which  the  Government  has 
published  ;  others  are  hidden  in  the  breasts  of  men  so 
base  that  it  may  be  doubted  whether  they  dare  to  tell 
themselves  the  truth  about  themselves  ;  several  are 
buried  in  the  lairs  of  the  police,  that  strange,  blind, 
and  passion-led  authority,  for  whom  all  with  which  it 
has  to  deal  changes  its  nature,  and  violence  and  in- 
justice of  every  kind,  provided  they  are  necessary  to 
attain  the  aim  that  is  sought  by  the  supreme  power, 
are  merely  plain  and  binding  duties. 

Many  of  these  facts  are  hidden  in   the  depths  of 


136         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Bonaparte's  own  soul,  and  some  of  them  will  never 
be  known,  because  it  was  so  easy  for  him  to  share 
his  confidence  among  several  agents  and  several 
accomplices.  Lastly,  there  are  others  which  are 
withheld  by  the  prudent  or  pusillanimous  silence  of 
a  very  small  number  of  persons,  who  have  been 
enabled  to  detect  some  of  those  formidable  secrets  of 
the  abuse  of  power  (which  might  serve  as  instruction 
and  warning  to  future  generations),  either  by  chance, 
or  through  the  indiscretion  of  the  agents  of  the 
supreme  authority.  Amid  so  many  obstacles  to 
the  thorough  investigation  of  the  truth,  I  am  aware 
that  I  have  allowed  a  portion  to  escape  me,  and  I 
cannot  answer  for  the  strict  exactness  of  my  narrative 
in  all  respects.  The  only  thing  that  I  can  unhesitat- 
ingly vouch  for,  is  the  truth  of  the  principal  circum- 
stances and  the  accuracy  of  the  point  of  view  from 
which  I  have  examined  the  facts. 

I  am  now  about  to  take  a  new  departure.  Of  the 
events  which  I  shall  have  to  lay  before  the  reader, 
some  have  been  avowed  with  unheard-of  audacity, 
and  others  published  with  ostentation  perhaps  equally 
remarkable. 

To  almost  all  of  them,  the  whole  of  Paris  or 
France  itself  bears  witness.  Not  indeed  that  several 
details  of  these  same  events  are  not  also  enshrouded 
in  mystery  ;  but,  on  the  one  hand,  that  mystery  is  not 
of  a  kind  that  remains  mysterious  ;  and  on  the  other 
it  does  not  hinder  the  formation  of  a  sound  estimate 
of  the  true  nature  of  events.  I  have  little  to  fear  for 
the  rest  of  my  task,  beyond  the  errors  of  my  own 
judgment.  I  shall  take  all  possible  pains  to  guard 
against  such  errors,  and  my  first  care  in  every  case 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         137 

shall  be  to  state  the  reason  or  the  feeling  that  dictates 
my  judgment,  so  that  those  who  do  not  share  my 
feelings  and  my  ideas  may  perceive  the  cause  of  my 
errors,  and  deduce  at  their  pleasure  other  consequences 
from  the  same  facts. 


138        The  Last  Days  of  iJie  Consulate. 


CHAPTER  III. 

the  duc  d'enghien — arrest  of  moreau, 
pichegru,  georges  cadoudal,  etc. 

Note  by  the  Editor. 

The  third  chapter,  which  was  to  have  contained  an 
account  of  the  arrest  of  Moreau,  Pichegru,  &c,  the 
"  instruction  "  of  their  trial,  and  the  execution  of  the 
Due  d'Enghien,  was  never  written.  That  Fauriel 
intended  to  write  it  is  evident  from  the  number  of 
notes  which  he  had  collected,  and  the  dozen  or  so  of 
loose  pages  :  these  we  must  take  for  what  they  are  — 
mere  memoranda  of  the  facts  and  ideas  with  which  he 
proposed  to  deal  in  detail.  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
fill  up  this  hiatus  in  the  work,  but  will  utilize  a  few  of 
Fauriel's  notes  by  giving  a  brief  summary  of  events, 
so  as  to  form  a  link  between  the  preceding  and  the 
following  chapters,  beginning  with  the  fragment  that 
relates  to  the  Due  d'Enghien.1 

Extract  from  Fauriel's  Notes. 

Whatever  may  be  the  pretexts  assigned  for  the 
arrest  and  execution  of  the  Due  d'Enghien,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  resist  the  conviction  that  other  reasons  besides 

1  See,  on  this  subject,  the  Memoirs  of  Madame  de  Remusat, 
English  version,  published  by  Messrs.  Sampson  Low  and  Co. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         139 

those  put  forward  to  account  for  the  deed  really 
actuated  it. 

Did  the  First  Consul  intend  to  frighten  the  Bour- 
bons effectually  and  for  ever  ?  It  is  proved  by  the 
facts  that  he  has  only  revived  the  almost  extinct 
interest  in  their  favour. 

He  did  not  regard  the  prince's  projects  as  forming 
a  portion  of  those  of  the  Paris  conspirators,  for,  in 
that  case,  he  ought  to  have  had  him  tried  with  them. 

He  could  not  consider  those  projects  more  culpable 
than  the  designs  of  Georges  Cadoudal  and  his  accom- 
plices, and  therefore  cause  them  to  be  judged  in  a 
more  sudden  and  severe  manner. 

The  accomplices  of  the  Due  d'Hnghien,  many  of 
whom  were  well  known  to  have  entertained  former 
relations  with  the  enemies  of  the  State,  were  not 
brought  to  trial.  Some  of  them  were  set  at  liberty, 
the  duke's  secretary  among  the  number.  Several  are 
hoping  to  be  set  free.  This  trial  has  been  talked  of; 
why  has  it  not  taken  place  ? 

It  follows  necessarily  that  there  was  some  private 
motive  for  an  action  that  must  inevitably  attract  so 
much  attention,  and  might  have  such  grave  conse- 
quences. 

What  that  motive  was  it  is  important  and  perhaps 
easy  to  discover.  A  project  for  restoring  the  throne 
was  already  known  to  exist,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
being  declared.  The  knowledge  of  this  project  might 
have  various  results. 

1.  To  revive  the  rumours  in  general  circulation 
after  the  18th  Brumaire,  to  the  effect  that  the  First 
Consul  was  acting  in  favour  of  the  Bourbons. 

2.  To  disturb  those  among  the  persons  devoted  to 


140        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

the  First  Consul  who  were  personally  interested  in 
keeping  out  the  Bourbons,  and  to  paralyze  their 
action  under  circumstances  which  rendered  it  ex- 
tremely necessary. 

A  guarantee  had  therefore  to  be  given  to  those 
persons  that  nothing  was  being  done  for  the 
benefit  of  their  enemy,  and  an  overt  act  of  violence 
against  the  Bourbons  might  be  regarded  in  that 
light. 

Moreau,  who  was  then  a  prisoner,  had  iormerly  re- 
frained on  several  occasions  from  capturing  the  young 
prince,  when  he  could  have  done  so,  from  admiration 
of  his  courage.  The  Due  d'Enghien  arrived  in  Paris 
at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Murat  and  Savary 
having  waited  for  him  at  the  barrier.  Savary  accom- 
panied him  to  Vincennes,  and  gave  the  signal  to  the 
firing-party  ;  services  for  which  he  received  from 
Fouche*  eighty  thousand  francs  at  least.  Great  was 
the  public  surprise  and  horror  when  the  sentence 
upon  the  Due  d'Enghien  was  cried  in  the  streets  of 
Paris,  where  his  arrest  was  hardly  known.  The  First 
Consul  was,  it  is  said,  startled  by  the  effect  of  this 
news  on  the  public  mind. 

The  Moniteur  gave  the  sentence  without  an- 
nouncing its  execution.  It  was  during  the  night  of 
the  30th  Ventose  that  the  prince  was  shot. 

Madame  Bonaparte  implored  pardon  for  the  Duke, 
and  was  treated  with  gross  indignity.  M.  Louis 
Bonaparte  also  interceded  for  him  with  his  brother, 
and  was  repulsed  in  a  similar  way. 

Editor's  Note. 
All  was  now  ready,  owing  to  the    intrigues  with 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        141 

which  he  had  been  surrounded,  for  the  final  ruin  of  the 
great  soldier  whose  fame  and  popularity  excited  the 
jealousy  of  Bonaparte;  the  only  person  who  could 
have  successfully  raised  an  obstacle  to  Moreau's  am- 
bitious designs,  by  rallying  the  malcontents,  who  were 
very  numerous  both  in  the  army  and  elsewhere,  around 
himself.2 

On  the  nth  Pluviose  (1st  February,  1804),  Real  was 
appointed  assistant  (or  adjunct)  to  the  Grand  Judge, 
Regnier,3  and  specially  charged  with  the  "  instruc- 
tion "  and  prosecution  of  all  the  cases  relating  to 
the  tranquillity  and  internal  safety  of  the  Republic. 
Severe  police  measures  had  just  been  added  to  those 
that  already  existed,4  and  numerous  arrests  spread 
anger  and  consternation  throughout  Paris,  where 
people  called  to  mind  the  odious  deeds  that  had 
followed  the  attempt  of  Nivose.  This  was  a  means 
of  preparing  the  public  for  the  unexpected  blow  about 
to  be  struck. 

Early  in  the  morning  on  the  25th  Pluviose,  an 
officer  of  the  "Legion  d'Klite,"  accompanied  by  a  de- 
tachment, presented  himself  at  Moreau's   residence 

2  Josephine  said  to  a  Councillor  of  State,  "  The  generals 
declare  that  they  have  not  fought  against  the  Bourbons  in  order 
to  substitute  Bonaparte  for  them  "  ("  Mdmoires  sur  le  Consulat," 
p.  242.) 

3  Fouche'  called  him  "  le  gros  juge." 

4  On  the  4th  Pluviose  a  police  order  had  enjoined  all  the 
health  officers  who  had  rendered  aid  to  the  wounded  to  declare 
the  same  immediately  to  the  police.  This  declaration  was  to 
contain  the  name,  abode,  and  profession  of  the  wounded  person, 
the  cause  of  his  wounds,  their  gravity,  and  the  circumstance  of 
their  infliction. 

A  similar  order  was  issued  by  M.  Gisquet,  Prefect  of  Police, 
after  the  insurrection  of  the  5th  and  6th  June,  1832  ;  but  it  was 
received  with  such  an  outcry  that  it  had  to  be  immediately  with- 
drawn. 


142         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

in  the  Rue  d'Anjou,  Saint-Honord,1  and  after  having 
carefully  examined  his  papers  and  seized  them,  set  out 
in  search  of  the  general,  who  had  gone  to  Gros  Bois,  his 
country  place.  The  party  fell  in  with  him  near  Charen- 
ton,  when  he  was  shown  the  order  for  his  arrest  signed 
by  the  Grand  Judge,  and  immediately  taken  to  the 
Temple.  At  the  same  time  his  servants  and  aides-de- 
camp were  arrested  ;  among  the  latter  was  a  very 
distinguished  officer,  Le  Normand,  of  whom  Fauriel 
will  speak  hereafter.6  Fresnieres,  his  secretary,  who 
had  been  present  during  the  examination  of  the 
papers,  with  Moreau's  brother  and  mother-in-law,  was 
not  at  first  molested  in  any  way,  but  a  warrant  was 
afterwards  issued  against  him  ;  he  had,  however, 
reached  a  place  of  safety.7 

On  the  same  evening  the  general  underwent  an 
examination  before  the  Grand  Judge,  and  was  guilty 
of  the  unworthy  and  foolish  weakness,  for  which  he 
has  been  justly  reproached,  of  denying  facts  that  were 
easy  to  prove  to  demonstration. 

On  the  following  day  (27th  Pluviose)  the  Parisians 

5  At  No.  122.  It  was  the  proximity  of  this  house  to  the 
Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine  which  led  tothelatter  being  selected 
as  the  place  of  meeting  for  Moreau  and  Pichegru. 

6  He  had  begun  to  compose  the  history  of  his  campaigns 
His  manuscript  was  probably  seized  and  destroyed.     See  the 

proccs-verbal  of  his  arrest.     ("  Proces,"  vol.  iii   p.  57.) 

7  Bonaparte  who  probably  had  some  personal  grievance  to 
avenge,  had  Generals  Liehert  and  Souham  arrested,  and  placed 
au  secret,  as  accused  of  conspiracy.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
none  of  the  persons  arrested  at  the  same  time  with  Moreau 
figured  at  the  trial.  So  soon  as  the  arrest  of  her  husband 
became  known,  Madame  Moreau  received  a  great  number  of 
visits.  The  police  seized  the  list  of  names  of  those  who  called 
upon  her.  It  was  Couchery  who  informed  Pichegru  of  Moreau's 
arrest.  "He  made  a  gesture  of  astonishment  and  grief,' but 
said  nothing."     ("  Proces,"  vol.  ii.  p.  444.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        143 

found  the  walls  placarded  with  an  order  of  the  day 
by  the  Governor  of  Paris,  whose  enmity  to  Moreau 
was  all  known.8  Borrowing  his  inspiration  from  the 
denunciation  of  Hippolitus  by  Theseus,  he  announced 
to  the  troops  under  his  command  that  fifty  brigands,9 
the  impure  remnant  of  the  civil  war,1  with  Georges 
and  General  Pichegru  at  their  head,  had  penetrated 
even  to  the  capital,  and  he  added  this  false  assertion  : 
"  Their  arrival  has  been  brought  about  by  a  person 
who  is  still  numbered  in  our  ranks ;  by  General 
Moreau,  who  was  placed  yesterday  in  the  hands  of 
the  national  justice." 2 

The  same  day3  the  Government  communicated  the 

8  During  the  trial,  Joyant,  on  being  accused  of  having  seen 
Fresnieres,  and  written  to  him  making  certain  proposals,  denied 
the  fact,  and  Thuriot  was  obliged  to  acknowledge  that  the  asser- 
tion was  one  made  simply  by  Lajolais.  "  For  the  rest,"  said  the 
president,  "it  was  not  made  a  charge  against  him."  (See 
'*  Proces,"  vol.  v.  p.  378.) 

9  See  "  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Remusat,"  vol.  i.  p.  303. 

1  "  Reste  impur  des  brigands  dont  j'ai  purge  la  terre.-'  He 
had  probably  heard  this  line  a  few  days  previously  at  the 
Theatre  Francais,  where  "  Phedre  "  had  been  played,  and  the 
word  "  brigands,"  which  was  in  the  mouths  of  all  the  Govern- 
ment agents,  may  have  struck  him.  This  expression  pleased 
the  Procurator- General  so  much  that  he  repeated  it  in  his 
speech.     ("  Proces,"  vol.  vi.  p.  275.) 

a  "  On  account  of  the  terms  in  which  this  order  of  the  day  is 
couched,"  says  Fauriel  in  a  note,  "it  was  attributed  to  the  First 
Consul  himself."  It  was  published  in  the  newspapers  on  the 
day  after  it  was  placarded,  but  not  inserted  in  the  Mo?iiteur 
until  the  2nd  Ventose. 

In  the  same  number  addresses  of  congratulation  to  the  First 
Consul  on  his  having  escaped  the  conspiracy  from  the  com- 
manders of  various  corps,  from  the  clergy,  the  towns,  &c.,  began 
to  appear.  General  Soult's  address  was  the  first.  He  speaks 
in  it  of  "the  monsters  who  would  dare  to  lay  a  sacrilegious  hand 
upon  the  august  person  of  the  First  Consul." 

3  "  The  First  Consul,"  says  a  note  by  Fauriel,  "  had  sum- 
moned the  presidents  of  the  three  great  authorities  to  the 
Tuileries  on  the  preceding  evening,  in  order  to  tell  them  the 


144        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

report  of  the  Grand  Judge  upon  the  conspiracy  to  the 
Legislative  Body  and  to  the  Tribunate.4  The  reading 
of  this  document,  in  which  Moreau  was  grossly 
aspersed,  at  the  Tribunate,  produced  an  indignant 
protest  from  the  general's  brother,  who  was  one  of  its 
members. 

Moreau,  whose  capture  could  never  have  been  in 
the  least  difficult,  was  in  the  power  of  his  enemies, 
and  the  greater  number  of  the  confederates  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  police  ;  •  but  the  most  dreaded  of 
them  all,  Pichegru  and  Cadoudal,  were  still  at  liberty, 
notwithstanding  the  zeal  with  which  the  police  pro- 
secuted their  search,  and  the  reiterated  appeals  that 
were  made  to  the  citizens.  On  the  1st  Ventose  (12th 
February)  the  Grand  Judge  had  a  proclamation 
placarded  all  over  Paris,  in  which  he  called  upon  all, 
in  the  name  of  their  dearest  intertsts,  to  denounce 
the  foreign  suspects,  and  especially  to  beware  how 
they  afforded  an  as>lum  "to  monsters  to  whom  the 
whole  earth  ought  to  refuse  it."  A  week  later, 
Pichegru,  having  been  betrayed  by  a  person  named 
Leblanc,  who  went  to  Murat  and  denounced  the 
general,  receiving  one  hundred  thousand  francs  as  his 
reward,  was  roused  out  of  his  sleep  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  at  his  lodging  in  the  Rue  de  Chabanais, 
and  arrested  after  a  vigorous  resistance.6 

news,  and  either  to  inspire  or  dictate  the  conduct  which  they 
were  to  observe  under  the  circumstances,  that  is  to  say,  at  the 
sittings  of  their  respective  bodies,  which  were  to  take  place  on 
the  morrow,  and  at  which  they  were  to  receive  the  official  com- 
munication of  the  Grand  Judge." 

4  It  was  drawn  up  by  Lebrun,  Third  Consul. 

5  Moreau  had  another  brother,  a  naval  lieutenant.  Bonaparte 
sent  him  orders  to  retire  to  Morlaix,  and  stay  there  with  his 
family. 

'"  Correspondence,"  vol.  ix.  p.  342. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         145 

But  Cadoudal  again  escaped.  "  They  were  much 
troubled,"  says  Madame  de  Remusat,  "by  the 
address  with  which  he  eluded  all  pursuit." 

On  the  9th  Ventose  a  law  was  passed  by  which 
it  was  enacted  that  "all  persons  who  harboured 
Georges  or  any  one  of  his  accomplices  shall  be  treated 
as  equal  with  those  brigands  if  they  do  not  make 
declaration  of  the  fact."  "  At  the  same  time  the 
measures  that  were  taken  to  prevent  them  from 
getting  out  of  Paris,  reminded  us,"  says  Fauriel,  "  by 
the  silence  and  consternation  of  the  people,  and  by  the 
active  movements  of  the  armed  force,  of  the  sad  days 
of  '93." 7  "Sentinels,"  we  learn  from  the  Journal  de 
Paris,  "  have  been  placed  all  along  the  walls  of  Paris, 
and  no  person  can  pass  the  gates,  day  or  night.  In 
the  daytime,  police  officers,  adjutants,  and  gendarmes 
verify  passports  and  reconnoitre  every  individual  who 
goes  out,  so  as  to  make  sure  that  the  brigands  shall 
not  fly  from  Paris  and  escape  the  punishment  that 
awaits  them.  The  citizens  must  hasten  to  denounce 
the  houses  in  which  they  may  suspect  them  to  be 
hidden." 

In  publishing  the  law  for  the  punishment  of  all  who 
should  harbour  Georges  and  his  accomplices,  the 
Government  had  forgotten  to  give  their  names  and 
description.  This  omission  was  repaired  by  the 
Moniteur  in  the  number  of  the  16th  Ventose,8  in  which 
the  Grand  Judge  caused  to  be  inserted  a  "List  of  the 

7  For  all  these  measures  see  several  letters  of  Bonaparte's  in 
vol.  ix.  ot  his  "  Correspondence." 

8  "The  journal,"  says  Fauriel  in  a  note,  "was  kept  back  for 
several  hours  in  order  that  this  note  might  be  inserted  on  the 
day  named."  It  was  at  the  same  time  placarded  all  over  Paris, 
and  distributed  everywhere. 

L 


1 46       The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Brigands  employed  by  the  British  Ministry  to  attempt 
the  life  of  the  First  Consul."  That  list  comprised  fifty- 
nine  persons  ;  1st,  the  twenty-nine  men  who  were 
landed  from  an  English  cutter  (Wright,  captain)  at 
the  foot  of  the  cliff  of  Bivelle  in  August  and  December, 
1 803,  and  on  the  16th  of  January,  1804;  2ndly,  thirty- 
eight  "accomplices"  who  were  landed  in  Brittany, 
or  resident  in  France.  Among  the  latter  Moreau 
figured.  Out  of  this  number  of  fifty-nine,  there  were 
thirty-three  not  arrested,  and  thirty-one  who  were 
described.9 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  18th  Ven- 
t6se  (9th  March),  two  days  after  this  publication, 
Georges  Cadoudal,  who  was  in  a  cabriolet  with  the 
younger  Leridan,1  was  arrested  near  the  Odeon 
Theatre,  after  having  killed  the  peace  officer 
who  seized  the  horses'  bridles  with  one  pistol  shot, 
and  severely  wounded  with  a  second  another  police 
agent  who  attempted  to  seize  him.  The  rest  of 
the  confederates  fell  for  the  most  part  into  the  hands 
of  the  police.  We  shall  meet  with  them  in  the 
following  chapter.  On  the  eve  of  this  capture,  at  which 
the  Government  rejoiced  so  much  that  the  MoniUur 
inserted  it  at  the  head  of  its  number  of  the  29th  Ven- 
tose,  Moreau  had  again  fallen  into  a  trap  set  for  him  by 
Real.  Fauriel  reveals  the  origin  (hitherto  unknown) 
of  his  ill-judged  action,  which  was  rendered  excu- 
sable only  by  the  excessively  rigorous  captivity  to 
which  he  was  subjected.  He  complained  of  this  strict- 
ness at  the  trial. 

9  An  extremely  minute  description  is  given  of  Cadoudal  as 
"chief  of  the  brigands." 

1  Leridan  did  not  figure  on  the  list  of  brigands.  He  was 
condemned  to  only  two  years'  imprisonment. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        147 

"On  the  17th  Ventose,"  says  Fauriel,  "  Moreau 
wrote  to  the  First  Consul.  For  several  days  there 
was  anxiety  about  this  letter,  which  was  said  by 
the  general's  enemies  to  be  derogatory  to  the 
dignity  of  his  character.  It  was  known  that  the 
First  Consul  had  ordered  it  to  be  included  in  the 
documents  to  be  used  at  the  trial.  Hence  it  was  con- 
cluded that  Bonaparte  was  not  well  pleased  with  the 
letter,  and  therefore,  that  Moreau  had  not  degraded 
himself  by  it.2 

The  story  of  this  letter  of  Moreau's  is  connected 
with  the  incident  (insignificant  in  itself)  of  Madame 
Recamier's  visit  to  Real.  She  was  summoned  by 
him  to  receive  a  reprimand  for  the  freedom  of  her 
remarks  upon  the  arrest  of  Moreau,  and  upon  other 
circumstances  of  the  conspiracy.  Real's  real  object 
in  this  proceeding  was  to  inspire  Moreau  through 
his  wife,  who  was  acquainted  with  Madame  Recamier, 
with  the  idea  of  writing  to  the  First  Consul. 

In  order  to  prejudice  the  public  against  Moreau, 
various  pamphlets,  in  which  attempts  were  made 
to  cast  doubts  upon  the  loyalty  of  the  general,  were 
published.3 

2  When  Fauriel  wrote  this  he  was  not  aware  of  the  tenor  of 
the  letter,  which  was  not  made  known  to  the  public  until  the  trial. 
At  a  later  stage  of  his  narrative  he  speaks  of  it  as  "  a  letter 
written  imprudently,  and  in  a  moment  of  weakness." 

3  The  most  important  of  these  pamphlets  are  "  Moreau  et 
Pichegru,"  written  by  Rcederer,  by  order  of  Bonaparte  (see 
Rcederer's  works,  vol.  iii.  p.  373,  and  following),  and  the 
"  Me'moire  concernant  latrahison  de  Pichegru, ;' by  Mcntgaillard. 
We  may  judge  of  it  by  the  following  note  in  the  Journal  de  Paris 
(20th  Ventose) :  "A  draughtsman  has  drawn  the  portrait  of 
Georges  jro?n  the  description  published  by  the  Gra?id  Judge,  and 
an  engraving  has  been  made,  which  is  on  sale  to-day,  at  the 
Rue  du  Coq,  Saint  Honore." 

L  2 


148        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

The  print,  which  represented  the  u  sixty  brigands," 
with  Moreau  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  which  was 
certainly  done  by  order  of  the  Government,  was 
fully  worthy  of  the  "  List  of  Brigands."  This 
print  was  sold  or  seen  everywhere ;  it  was  simply 
the  list  in  the  Mouitcur  translated  for  the  use  of 
those  who  could  not  read.  Portraits  of  Moreau 
were  no  longer  to  be  seen  ;  they  were  replaced  by 
the  print  in  question. 

A  last  word.  If  Fauricl's  narrative  could  leave 
any  doubt  of  the  provocative  part  which  the  police 
played  in  the  getting  up  of  this  plot,  such  a  doubt 
would  be  removed  by  the  following  passage  from 
Bourrienne's  "  M^moires."  During  two  days  which 
he  passed  with  Fouche  at  his  country  place,  Pont- 
Carre,  the  ex-Ministcr  of  Police,  "who  was  often 
very  indiscreet,"  reposed  some  odd  confidences  in 
him.  "  I  derived  from  them,"  says  Bourrienne,  "  and 
from  putting  together  all  that  he  told  me,  positive 
proof  that  he  was  acting  for  himself  alone,  and, 
without  precisely  saying  to  me  in  so  many  words : 
'  I  have  made  up  the  conspiracy  of  Georges,  Piche- 
gru,  and  Moreau,  in  order  to  get  back  to  the 
Ministry,  and  to  console  myself  for  not  having  dis- 
covered the  plot  of  the  3rd  Nivose,'  he  fully  confirmed 
me  in  the  correctness  of  the  ideas  which  I  have 
expressed  in  speaking  of  the  schemes  of  the 
early  part  of  1 804.  He  congratulated  himself  un- 
reservedly on  having  tricked  R^gnier,  and  con- 
strained Bonaparte  to  recall  him,  and  the  proof 
that  he  had  moved  the  springs  which  brought  the 
confederates  together,  or  rather,  transformed  malcon- 
tents  into   confederates,   was   that   he   said    to   me : 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         149 

'Informed  as  I  was,  if  I  had  remained  at  the 
Ministry  of  Police,  it  is  probable  that  I  should  have 
prevented  the  conspiracy,  but  Bonaparte  had  still  to 
fear  the  rivalry  of  Moreau  ;  he  would  not  have  been 
Emperor ;  and  as  for  us,  we  should  be  still  in  dread 
of  the  return  of  the  Bourbons.  That,  thank  God,  we 
no  longer  fear.'  " 4 

Let  us  now  return  to  Fauriel's  narrative. 

4  "  Memoires  de  Bourrienne,"  vol.  vi.  p.  295. 


150        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consttlate. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AN  HISTORICAL  PICTURE  OF  THE  TRIAL  OF  GEORGES 
CADOUDAL   AND   MOREAU. 

Three  whole  months  had  elapsed  since  the  rising 
of  the  rumour  of  the  conspiracy  against  the  Consular 
Government,  which,  in  fact,  had  no  existence  since  the 
day  on  which  Moreau  had  been  arrested  as  an  accomplice 
of  Georges  Cadoudal ;  yetneither  Moreau,  Georges,  nor 
the  others  who  were  also  accused  were  yet  brought  to 
trial.1  In  the  midst  of  the  strange  variety  of  events 
that  accompanied  the  establishment  of  the  Empire  on 
the  ruins  of  the  Republic,  the  public  mind  had  been 
hardly  at  all  distracted  from  what  was  going  on  in  the 
Temple  prison,  and  from  the  approaching  trial  of 
Moreau.  The  general  curiosity  was  indeed  height- 
ened by  the  additional  anxiety  respecting  Moreau's 
fate  with  which  the  still  recent  remembrance  of  the 
death   of  the    Due    d'Enghien2  inspired  the  people. 

1  On  the  18th  of  May,  1804,  an  organic  Senatus-consultum 
had  conferred  the  title  of  Emperor  on  the  First  Consul,  under 
the  name  of  Napoleon  the  First,  and  made  the  imperial  dignity 
hereditary  in  his  family. 

8  [Marg.  note]  **  22nd  March,  1804.  '  Keen  and  recent  recol- 
lections foreboded,  so  to  speak,  the  issue  of  this  trial,  and 
the  gloomy  character  of  those  presages  was  all  the  more  likely 
to  heighten  public  curiosity.  Servile  and  cowardly  epochs  have 
the  singular  property  of  lending  a  certain  attraction  to  public 
ills  that  is  not  troubled  by  the  fear  of  personal  danger  near  at 
hand,  or  by  any  sense  of  the  duty  of  preventing  or  opposing 
those  public  ills.'  * 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       151 

This  uneasiness  manifested  itself  from  the  moment  of 
the  General's  arrest.  Bonaparte  had  murdered  the 
most  interesting  scion  of  the  ancient  families  of 
the  kings  of  France,  as  a  prelude  to  the  formation  of 
the  Empire.  What  a  presage  was  this  of  the  fate  of 
the  most  illustrious  among  generals,  who  had  won  the 
victories  of  the  Republic  and  Liberty,  but  was  now  in 
the  hands  of  his  enemy,  the  new-made  Emperor  !  The 
nation  had  just  seen  how  Bonaparte  had  ascended 
the  throne ;  by  what  pretext,  by  what  means,  with 
what  sentiments  ;  and  it  was  a  remarkable  circum- 
stance that  his  first  acts  in  the  capacity  of  Emperor 
were  about  to  decide  the  fate  of  the  man  whom  he 
most  feared.3 

Bonaparte  himself,  in  the  midst  of  the  solicitude 
which  his  resolution  with  respect  to  the  Due  d'Enghien 
must  have  caused  him,  of  the  disturbance  which 
ensued,  in  the  first  instance,  upon  the  carrying  out 
of  that  resolution  ;  of  the  intrigues  which  he  had 
to  set  on  foot  through  the  medium  of  his  agents, 
and  even  while  he  quaffed  the  first  intoxicating 
draughts  of  imperial  splendour  and  enjoyment,  had 
never  for  one  moment  lost  sight  of  the  "  brigands,'* 

3  [Marg.  note.]  "The  public  were  again  and  above  all  frightened 
by  the  Senatus-consultum  of  the  8th  Ventose,  by  the  list  of  the 
i6th,and  by  the  violent  measures  which  had  been  resorted  to  in 
the  arrest  of  a  great  number  of  the  accused." 

On  the  8th  Ventose  a  Senatus-consultum  was  given  by  which 
the  functions  of  the  jury  were  suppressed  for  two  years  in  cases 
of  the  crimes  of  treason  and  attempts  against  the  person  of  the 
First  Consul,  and  against  the  internal  and  external  safety  of  the 
Republic,  and  the  accused,  who  were  to  be  defended  by  counsel, 
were  to  be  tried  before  a  court  composed  of  six  judges. 
According  to  a  note  by  Fauriel,  the  latter  clause  was  inserted 
with  the  special  intention  of  preventing  Garat  from  undertaking 
Moreau's  case. 


152        The  Last  Days  of  the  Co7isulate. 

whom  he  accused  of  having  made  a  plot  to  assassinate 
him. 

The  Criminal  Tribunal,  and  all  the  agents,  both 
superior  and  subaltern,  were  unremittingly  occupied 
by  the  proceedings  against  these  "  brigands."  Every 
other  interest  appeared  to  be  suspended  ;  every  other 
thought  to  be  laid  aside  It  soon  became  easy  to 
judge  of  the  onerous  and  fatiguing  nature  of  the  task 
that  had  been  imposed  upon  them. 

The  proceedings  against  the  conspirators  were  by 
this  time  very  far  advanced.  Twenty-three  had  al- 
ready been  arrested,  and  those  who  played,  or  were 
made  to  appear  to  play  the  chief  parts  were  among 
the  number.  The  others  were  taken  at  different 
times  in  the  course  of  Germinal.  Between  the  day  of 
Moreau's  arrest,  and  that  on  which  the  indictment 
[acte  d' accusation)  appeared,  there  is  an  exact  interval 
of  three  months,  devoted  to  arranging  measures  for 
convicting  the  accused  of  the  offences  imputed  to 
them,  and  preparing  them  to  be  delivered  up  to  the 
judges.  I  shall  proceed  to  group  together  the  cir- 
cumstances that  afford  an  idea  of  the  "  instruction  " 
of  this  great  trial,  of  all  the  measures  taken  by  the 
police  and  the  Tribunal  in  the  preparation  of  it,  and 
of  the  incidents  which  bore  upon  it.  Afterwards  I 
shall  sketch  the  history  of  the  trial  itself,  and  narrate 
the  most  remarkable  circumstances  which  followed 
the  rendering  of  the  judgment  and  the  execution  of 
it ;  taking  care  that  all  these  portions  of  one  same 
event  shall  throw  light  on  each  other. 

The  number  of  persons  to  whom  the  judicial  informa- 
tions attached  was  forty-eight,  but  fourteen  of  these 
(among  whom  were  several   women)    were   persons 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,       153 

who  could  not  be  classed  among  conspirators  with- 
out manifest  absurdity.  They  were  members  of  the 
lower  classes  of  society,  against  whom  no  other 
accusation  could  be  brought  than  that  they  afforded 
an  asylum  to  accused  persons,  on  the  usual  terms 
for  similar  accommodation,  or  otherwise  rendered 
them  service  according  to  custom,  as  to  any  ordinary 
employers.  There  were  even  some  among  them  who 
had  made  useful  declarations  to  the  police  of  their 
own  accord.  I  shall  have  very  little  to  say  of  those 
persons.  It  is  an  almost  inevitable  injustice  of 
history  to  forget  the  misfortunes  of  obscure  indi- 
viduals, or  to  pass  them  over  lightly. 

The  thirty-four  others  (if  we  except  Moreau,  whom 
it  will  always  be  necessary  to  consider  separately) 
presented  certain  characteristics  which  were  calculated 
to  give  a  specious  appearance  to  the  accusation 
against  them.  Almost  all  had  borne  arms  against 
the  Republic  in  the  civil  wars  of  Brittany.  Several 
had  held  commands  amongst  the  insurgents,  and  the 
most  celebrated  of  their  chiefs,  he  who  had  displayed 
the  highest  capacity,  the  staunchest  perseverance,  the 
most  dauntless  courage,  was  there.  Some,  whose 
lack  of  education  condemned  them  to  vegetate  in  the 
lowest  ranks  of  society,  seemed  ill-calculated  to  play 
the  part  of  conspirators,  but  the  recollections  of  a 
civil  war  in  which  all  who  had  a  share  in  it  were  in- 
flamed by  fierce  fanaticism,  might  make  them  appear 
to  some  extent  formidable.  Some  others  among  these 
accused  persons,  without  having  taken  a  direct  part 
in  the  civil  war,  were  bound  by  strong  ties  to  those  in 
whose  interest  that  war  was  made.  Almost  all  were 
united  to  the  cause,  not  only  by  common  opinions, 


154        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

but  by  common  bonds,  and  to  the  service  of  the  French 
princes,  who  were  now  refugees  in  various  parts  of 
Europe.  All  were  not  proscribed  in  France,  but 
almost  all,  notwithstanding  the  half-pardon  which  was 
finally  obtained  of  necessity  for  the  various  insurgent 
parties,  belonged  to  a  class  subjected  to  the  unrelaxed 
vigilance  of  the  police,  who  had  many  times  acted 
treacherously  towards  them,  and  always  had  to  dread 
violent  reprisals  from  them. 

If,  then,  it  had  only  been  a  question  of  pronouncing 
upon  the  fate  of  these  men,  the  Government  would 
have  been  free  from  either  solicitude  or  embarrass- 
ment. The  name  of  Geo;  <ioudal,  at  this  period 
and  prior  to  the  trial  in  which  he  was  to  acquire  a 
more  honourable  renown  than  he  had  yet  won, 
awakened  none  but  unfavourable  ideas.  He  was 
regarded  by  national  prejudice  as  a  mere  brigand,  and 
the  same  view  was  taken  of  the  men  who  were  a 
dated  with  him.  They  might  have  been  brought 
before  a  court-martial  without  exciting  the  surprise 
of  the  public,  and  condemned  without  arousing  any 
indignation  or  scandal  ;  such  an  action,  whether  just 
or  unjust,  politic  or  atrocious,  would  only  have  excited 
idle  curiosity  for  a  few  days,  and  then  been  forgotten  ; 
for  one  of  the  great  misfortunes  of  a  nation  accus- 
tomed to  violence  and  arbitrary  rule  is  that  it  loses 
the  faculty  of  bearing  in  mind  the  crimes  from  which 
it  suffers. 

It  was,  then,  the  intention  of  associating  Moreau 
with  Georges  Cadoudal  that  gave  rise  to  all  the  soli- 
citude, and  animated  all  the  precautions  of  the 
Government.  The  greatest  of  the  generals  of  the 
Republic  was  to  be  presented  to  the  country  as  the 


The  Last  D.iys  of  the  Consulate.        155 

chief  of  a  band  whom  they  made  sure  of  being  able 
to  pass  off  as  base  and  savage  cut-throats.  This 
gives,  and  it  only  can  give,  the  key  to  the  mode  of 
"  instruction "  of  the  famous  trial,  and  reveals  the 
real  motive  of  all  the  measures  that  were  taken  to 
secure  the  desired  result. 

Immediately  upon. the  arrest  of  one  of  the  men 
inscribed  upon  the  famous  lists  of  "  brigands,"  within 
the  walls  or  in  the  environs  of  Paris,  he  was  taken  to 
the  Prefecture  of  Police,  before  being  conveyed  to 
prison,  unless,  indeed,  his  personal  importance  or 
some  particular  motives  procured  him  the  honour  of 
being  first  interrogated  by  the  Director-general  of 
Police,  Real.  But  the  greater  part  of  the  preliminary 
examinations  took  place  before  the  Prefect  of  Police, 
Dubois.4  Here  I  must  say  a  passing  word  concerning 
this  chief  of  the  Paris  police. 

Few  men  were  more  capable  of  discharging  the 
functions  of  that  post  to  the  liking  of  Bonaparte  ;  in- 
solent, vain,  and  fool'sh,he  was  always  ready  to  exer- 
cise his  deputed  despotism  upon  anybody,  provided 
the  order  came  to  him  direct  from  the  chief  of  the 
state  (on  that  condition  he  insisted),  for  he  claimed 
to  be  a  lofty  and  independent  power  in  his  sphere, 
and  he  frequently  formed  a  sort  of  opposition  to  the 


4  Louis  Pierre  Toseph  Dubois,  born  in  1758,  advocate  to  the 
parliament,  was  in  succession  procurator  to  the  Chatelet,  pre- 
sident of  the  Criminal  Tribunal,  Prefect  of  Police  (24th  March, 
1802),  and  Councillor  of  State  for  life.  He  was  replaced  at  the 
Prefecture  by  Pasquier  (December,  1810),  and  sat  in  the  cham- 
ber of  the  Hundred  Days.  He  died  in  1854.  u  La  Biographic 
Moderne"  passes  a  more  favourable  judgment  upon  him  than 
that  of  Fauriel.  It  says,  "  He  displayed  in  that  delicate  and 
difficult  post  the  wisdom  of  a  good  administrator,  and  the  im- 
partiality of  a  just  judge." 


156        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

ministry  of  "  high  police."  Bonaparte's  policy  was 
constantly  to  excite  his  dislike  and  jealousy  of 
Fouche,  who  has  always  regarded  him  with  contempt 
as  a  man  incapable  of  handling  the  secret  springs  of 
the  police,  elated  by  the  scraps  of  arbitrary  power 
that  he  was  permitted  to  grasp,  and  whose  greatest 
merit  is  that  he  can  flatter  <and  serve  the  daily 
suspicions  and  fidgety  anxieties  of  the  despot  in  chief, 
without  being  capable  of  inspiring  or  serving  him 
under  extraordinary  and  difficult  circumstances.  It 
would  be  impossible,  without  entering  into  multiplied 
and  repulsive  details,  to  give  a  just  idea  of  the  den 
called  the  Hotel  de  la  Prefecture,  in  which  this  under- 
ling minister  of  police  reigns.  There  we  find  a  com- 
bination of  all  that  is  most  hideous  in  the  aspect  and 
\\\  the  vices  of  prison-life  ;  a  respectable  man  rarely 
comes  out  of  it  without  having  been  shocked  by  some 
spectacle  debasing  to  humanity,  and  a  vicious  man 
without  being  more  fit  and  ready  for  crime,  because 
of  the  scorn  and  brutality  with  which  all  who  are 
suspected  of  criminality  are  treated  there. 

It  was  to  this  place  and  before  these  men  that  not 
only  the  persons  accused  of  conspiracy,  but  the 
greater  number  of  those  who  were  arrested  on  suspicion 
of  having  had  any  sort  of  relations  with  them,  were 
taken  immediately  upon  their  arrest.  I  cannot  pre- 
tend to  furnish  an  exact  statement  of  the  conduct  of 
the  police  to  the  accused,  nor  to  describe  in  detail  all 
the  measures  which  were  used  to  make  them  acknow- 
ledge their  crimes  ;  but,  judging  of  what  was  done  by 
what  it  was  impossible  to  conceal,  notwithstanding  the 
strong  interest  that  the  Government  had  in  keeping 
everything  secret,  and  all  the  means  of  concealment 


The  Last  Days  of  ths  Consulate.        157 

at  its  disposal,  there  is  room  for  surprise  and  dismay. 
The  facts  that  are  placed  beyond  doubt,  even  to  the 
least  well-informed,  are  more  than  sufficient  to  fix  and 
justify  the  judgment  of  the  historian. 

Threats  of  instant  violent  death,  and  promises  of 
money,  favour,  and  especially  of  life,  were  lavished  in 
turn,  and  where  threats  and  promises  proved  vain, 
torture  was  employed.5 

The  answers  extracted  by  fear  or  pain  to  insidious 
questions  put  according  to  a  prearranged  plan,  were 
recorded  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  judicial  pro- 
ceedings. On  more  than  one  bccason  those  answers 
were  altered  with  daring  impudence  or  astute 
treachery.  Particulars  which  rendered  them  more 
useful  for  the  purposes  of  the  police  were  added  to 
the  avowals  wrung  from  the  accused  ;  and  when 
nothing  positively  favourable  to  their  designs 
could  be  obtained,  only  what  was  damaging  was 
recorded. 

The  conspirators  who,  instead  of  being  taken  to 
the  Prefecture  of  Police  and  examined  in  the  first 
instance  by  Dubois,  were  brought  before  the  Director- 
general  of  Police  to  be  examined  by  him,  were  not 
treated  with  any  more  consideration.     It  is  necessary 

5  It  was  not  only  when  the  "instruction"  of  this  plot  was 
drawn  up  that  torture  was  employed  to  extract  avowals  from  the 
accused.  Among  the  documents  relative  to  the  attempt  of  the 
3rd  Nivose  there  is  a  letter  from  Saint- Rejant  to  his  sister,  in 
which  the  following  passage  occurs  :  "  I  can  assure  you  that 
since  I  have  been  arrested  1  have  suffered  martyrdom,  and  that 
1  have  said  nothing  against  my  comrades  or  against  the  party, 
although  I  have  been  put  to  the  secret  question  twice.  You 
do  not  know  what  this  kind  of  torture  is,  I  will  tell  you  that 
verbally."  This  letter  was  read  at  the  trial,  but  it  did  not  elicit 
any  protest  or  observation  on  the  part  of  the  president  of  the 
tribunal.    (See  "  Proce's  de  Saint-Rejan,"  vol.  i.  pp.  230,  231.) 


158         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

that  these  general  assertions  should  be  supported  by 
some  detail  of  facts,  not  only  for  the  satisfaction  of  the 
reader,  but,  also,  and  even  more,  for  the  proper  under- 
standing of  the  subsequent  facts  and  the  course  of  the 
trial. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  not  only  Moreau's 
aides-de-camp,  but  also  officers  whose  connection 
with  him  had  been  merely  that  of  subalterns  or 
friends,  were  imprisoned  simultaneously  with  him. 
Among  the  latter  was  one  Le  Normand,  a  brigade- 
major,  much  esteemed  in  the  army  for  his  valour,  and  re- 
markable for  combining  a  taste  for  philosophic  studies 
with  a  sound  knowledge  of  the  art  of  war.  His  vivacity 
of  temperament  gave  a  touch  of  lightness  and  even 
flightiness  to  his  character. 

He  had  been  first  aide-de-camp  to  Moreau,  and 
there  had  been  more  intimacy  between  them  than 
was  necessarily  implied  by  their  relative  positions. 
However,  after  a  certain  period  a  coolness  had  arisen, 
and  even  a  decided  division,  owing,  to  all  appearance, 
to  their  reciprocal  dislike  of  each  other's  political 
opinions. 

Moreau  seemed  to  think  that  Le  Normand's  attach- 
ment to  the  Republic  was  neither  strong  enough  nor 
fervent  enough,  and  Le  Normand  felt  the  same 
doubt  of  Moreau  ;  nevertheless,  mutual  esteem  pre- 
vented them  from  allowing  their  grievances  to 
influence  their  opinions  of  each  other,  and  their  dis- 
sension only  made  them  do  each  other  more  scrupu- 
lous justice.  Real  wished  to  reserve  the  privilege  of 
questioning  one  whom  he  believed  to  be  Moreau's 
enemy,  and  the  honour  of  making  a  profit  out  of  his 
enmity,  to  himself. 


The  Last  Days  of  I  he  Consulate.         159 

After  he  had  said  several  things  with  the  object  of 
exciting  the  resentment  of  the  young  officer,  Real 
concluded  by  offering  him  a  purse  which  contained 
one  hundred  thousand  crowns,  and  the  patent  of  a 
general  of  division,  on  condition  that  he  would  reveal 
all  that  he  was  presumed  to  know  of  Moreau's  secrets. 
Le  Normand  received  this  offer  as  it  deserved  to  be 
received,  and  Real  had  to  bear  the  mortification  of 
having  set  a  trap  for  the  loyal  young  officer  in  vain. 
By  the  impudence  of  this  attempt  upon  a  gentleman 
whose  high  sense  of  honour  and  probity  was  well 
and  widely  known,  and  who  could  not  under  any 
pretext  whatever  be  involved  in  Moreau's  fate,  we 
may  judge  to  what  lengths  the  police  ventured  to  go 
with  men  who  were  regarded  by  the  public  as 
brigands,  to  whom  when  they  offered  life  they  offered 
something  that  they  really  had  to  give,  and  could  dis- 
pose of  without  remorse  and  almost  without  scandal. 

Georges  Cadoudal's  servant,  Picot,6  a  Breton 
villager,  a  coarse,  fanatical,  and  violent  man,  was  a 
special  object  of  the  intemperate  zeal  with  which 
proofs  of  the  conspiracy  were  sought.  On  the  day  of 
Picot's  arrest,  Georges  was  still  free,  and  notwith- 
standing the  mass  of  evidence  that  had  put  the 
police  on  his  track,  in  spite  of  the  number  and 
activity  of  the  agents  in  their  employ,  they  still 
trembled  lest  he  should  escape  them.7     In  this  state 

6  Louis  Picot,  a  Chouan  captain,  born  at  Tosselin  in  1776. 
He  went  to  England  after  the  peace  of  Amiens,  returned  to 
France  with  Georges  Cadoudal,  was  arrested  on  the  18th 
Pluviose,  condemned  to  death,  and  executed.  The  dramatic 
scene  that  occurred  at  his  examination  before  the  tribunal  is 
related  in  a  later  portion  of  the  narrative. 

One  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Vendean  insurrection,  the  famous 
Abbe  Bernier,  who  had  become  Bishop  of  Orleans,  had  under- 


160         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

of  things,  the  servant  was  an  important  person  ;  he 
could  throw  a  light  upon  the  retreat  of  his  master. 
At  first  he  was  offered  a  considerable  sum  of  money, 
which  was  counted  out  before  him,  and  he  was  pro- 
mised leave  to  go  whithersoever  he  desired.  These 
overtures  having  failed,  he  was  garroted,  and  sub- 
jected to  tortures  as  severe  as  could  be  inflicted  upon 
him,  considering  that  the  practice  had  long  fallen  into 
disuse,  and  that  the  instruments  ingeniously  devised 
for  the  administration  of  torture  were  not  forthcoming. 
The  unhappy  man  could  not  resist  the  pain,  and  he 
made  revelations  in  which  falsehood  and  truth  were 
mingled,  because  they  were  such  as  the  police  desired 
and  suggested. 

In  the  course  of  several  successive  examinations,  he 
declared  that  the  plan  of  the  conspirators  was  either 
to  assassinate  Bonaparte  or  to  carry  him  off;  that 
they  had  drawn  lots  to  decide  which  of  them  should 
attack  him  first  ;  and  that  uniforms  had  been  made 
for  them  with  that  object.  He  gave  information 
upon  the  landing  of  Cadoudal  and  his  companions, 
and  the  route  which  they  had  followed  in  making  for 
Paris.  They  did  not  fail  to  make  him  speak,  of 
Moreau.  He  answered,  or  rather  was  made  to  answer, 
that  he  had  often  heard  the  conspirators  speak  of 
that  general,  and  regret  that  the  princes  had  given 
him  to  them  as  an  auxiliary.  We  shall  see  that 
the  police  were  anxious  to  suggest   this   particular 

taken  to  recruit  these  agents  among  the  former  Chcuans.  On 
the  30th  Pluviose  Bonaparte  writes  to  Murat,  4i  The  Bishop  of 
Orleans  will  send  you  one  Piquartier,  of  La  Vende*e.  You  will 
employ  him  as  a  secret  agent,  and  give  him  a  reasonable  monthly 
salary.  He  ought  to  bring  you  a  daily  report."  ("  Correspond- 
ence," vol.  ix.  p.  322.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         161 

declaration  to  several  of  the  accused  ;  and  the  cause 
and  motive  of  that  suggestion  will  be  readily  per- 
ceived. 

One  peculiarity  which  history  will  record,  but  with- 
out surprise,  is,  that  of  all  the  accused  who  came  from 
England,  and  who  from  this  sole  circumstance  had 
more  of  the  appearance  of  conspirators,  those  whose 
characters  had  been  developed  by  culture  and 
education,  and  who  consequently  had  a  truer  and 
deeper  sense  of  the  fidelity  which  a  man  owes  to  a 
party  when  once  he  has  joined  it,  were  almost  the 
only  ones  who  remained  impervious  alike  to  threats 
and  torture,  and  wore  out  the  ardour  of  the  police 
without  gratifying  their  curiosity.  The  more 
rough  and  ignorant  men  among  the  number  were 
almost  all  weak,  and  the  most  cowardly  were  in 
general  those  who  were  settled  in  France,  and  were, 
so  to  speak,  unconscious  auxiliaries  of  the  con- 
federates. 

Jean  Merille,  Victor  Deville,  Rubin  de  la  Grimau- 
diere,  Louis  Marie  Burhan,  Nicolas  Datry,8  who  had 

8  Jean  MeVille,  called  Beauregard,  born  at  Saint- Front,  had 
been  engaged  in  the  Chouan  affair  and  the  attempt  of  the  3rd 
Nivose.  He  returned  to  Paris  at  the  same  time  as  Georges, 
was  arrested  on  the  18th  Pluviose,  condemned  to  death,  and 
executed.  He  was  twenty-eight  years  old.  Victor  Deville, 
called  Tamerlan,  son  of  a  labourer  at  Thiberville,  near  Bernay  ; 
he  left  the  republican  ranks  for  those  of  the  Vendeans,  and  after 
the  pacification  he  became  the  chief  of  a  band  of  highwaymen. 
He  managed  to  evade  pursuit,  went  to  London,  returned  to 
Paris  with  Georges,  was  arrested  on  the  nth  Germinal,  con- 
demned to  death,  and  executed.  Jean  Marie  Joseph  Rubin  de 
la  Grimaudiere,  born  at  Pire'  in  1777,  served  in  Conde's  army, 
and  afterwards  in  that  of  La  Vendee.  He  came  from  Rennes 
to  join  Georges  in  Paris,  was  arrested,  and  acquitted.  L.  G.  M. 
Burhan-Malabry,  born  at  Questemberg  in  Morbihan.  He  had 
served  under  Georges.     He  was  implicated  in  the  attempt  of 

M 


162        The  Last  Days  of  the  Co?isulate. 

all  held  the  rank  of  officers  among  the  insurgents 
during  the  civil  wars  of  the  West,  and  were  still  in 
the  prime  of  life,  being  arrested  and  examined  at 
different  periods,  agreed  in  their  steadfast  denial  of  any 
project  resembling  a  conspiracy  and  all  complicity  on 
their  own  part  in  any  such  design.  It  appears  that 
they  were  treated  with  great  severity  and  sternly 
threatened.  It  is  due  to  them  that  I  should  name 
them,  and  say  a  word  of  their  conduct,  were  it  only 
because  three  among  them  were  condemned  to  death, 
and  executed.  I  shall,  however,  make  no  long  pause 
except  in  the  case  of  those  whose  replies,  declarations, 
and  conduct  furnish  important  data  to  the  history  of 
the  case. 

Georges  Cadoudal  was  interrogated  by  the  police 
with  more  form  and  keener  curiosity  than  any  of  the 
confederates,  and  the  public  were  vehemently  in- 
terested in  his  examination.  He  was  questioned 
twice  over  during  the  night  by  the  Prefect  of  the 
Police,  and  that  while  the  shock  of  his  arrest  was 
fresh  upon  him,  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult  it  had  occa- 
sioned, of  the  cruel  joy  with  which  it  was  regarded  by 
those  into  whose  hands  he  had  fallen,  and  of  the  threats 
and  insults  considered  legitimate,  when  inflicted 
upon  a  man  who  had  hitherto  been  branded  with  the 
ignominious  title  of1'  brigand."  Amid  all  these  causes 
of  confusion  and  bewilderment,  which  might  so  pardon- 
ably have  led  to  acts  of  weakness  or  want  of  reflection, 

the  3rd  Nivose,  detained  a  year  at  Bicetre,  then  sent  to  Rennes, 
whence  he  returned  to  Paris  at  the  same  time  as  Georges,  was 
arrested,  condemned  to  death,  and  executed.  He  was  twenty- 
nine  years  old.  N.  Datry,  born  at  Verdun,  took  part  in  the 
affair  of  Quiberon,  entered  the  Portuguese  service,  and  after- 
wards rejoined  the  insurgents  of  Morbihan.  He  was  arrested 
with  Malabry  and  Joyant,  tried,  and  acquitted. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         163 

he  preserved  a  steadfast  courage,  and  nothing  more 
than  he  chose  to  say  was  extracted  from  him  ;  he 
uttered  nothing  different  from  or  contradictory  of  what 
he  had  resolved  to  declare,  when  he  had  meditated 
upon  his  situation  and  resolved  to  accept  his  inevitable 
fate  with  an  undaunted  heart. 

Georges  Cadoudal  stated  that  he  had  come  to 
France  there  to  prepare  the  means  of  overthrowing 
Bonaparte's  Government  and  restoring  the  Bourbons 
to  their  former  place  ;  that  those  means  were  not 
yet  available  ;  that  the  premeditated  attack  would 
not  be  begun  until  the  arrival  of  a  French  prince 
who  was  to  come  from  England,  and  was  to  be 
summoned  when  the  time  came.  He  denied  all 
complicity  in  the  plot  of  the  3rd  Nivose,  and  declared 
that  he  would  name  none  of  the  persons  with  whom 
he  had  consorted  or  who  had  afforded  him  asylum. 

The  answers  of  Georges  to  questions  concerning 
the  object  which  he  proposed  to  effect  by  coming 
to  Paris,  and  on  the  real  srate  of  his  project  at 
the  moment  of  his  arrest,  are  extremely  remarkable, 
inasmuch  as  they  give  a  precise  and  true  idea  of 
this  famous  conspiracy,  so  far  as  the  intention  of  the 
conspirators  is  concerned. 

The  replies  of  Joyant,  the  aide-de-camp  of  Georges, 
were  in  agreement  with  his  own.  Joyant  made  the 
same  general  avowal,  but  also  refused  to  make  any 
revelations  respecting  persons  who  might  have  been 
compromised  by  them. 

The  result  of  the  examination  of  the  Marquis  de 
Riviere  was  similar.9     The  marquis  was  a  gentleman 

9  Charles  Francois  Riffardeau,  Marquis  de  Riviere,  born  at 
M   2 


164         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

of  mild  manners,  cultivated  mind,  noble  character 
and  extreme  loyalty  to  the  opinions  which  he  held. 
His  position  as  the  favourite  and  aide-de-camp  of  the 
Count  d'Artois,  his  well-known  devotion  to  the 
royalist  cause,  his  reputation  as  a  man  of  ability 
and  one  who  was  incapable  of  change  of  opinion,  pro- 
cured him  the  honour  of  being  questioned  by  Real  on 
two  separate  occasions. 

No  other  acknowledgment  was  obtained  from  him 
than  that  of  an  intention  to  ascertain  for  himself 
whether  the  state  of  the  public  mind  and  of  things 
in  general  in  France  was  or  was  not  favourable  to 
the  hope  of  a  Bourbon  restoration.  In  vain  did 
Real  endeavour  to  make  him  give  up  the  names  of 
any  who  might  be  endangered,  and  to  make  him 
declare  that  his  party  counted  upon  the  assistance  of 
Moreau. 

The  declarations  of  the  brothers  Polignac  may 
be  placed  in  the  same  class  with  the  preceding 
in  a  general  sense,  but  they  present  certain  peculi- 
arities which  lend  them  a  distinct  aspect,  and  prove 
that  the  brothers  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  feelincr 
of  honour  and  even  truth  with  the  fear  inspired 
by  the  police.  They  were  both  questioned  by  Real, 
and  each,  on  being  interrogated  as  to  the  part  in 
the  conspiracy  which  he  believed  Moreau  to  have 
taken,  allowed  it  to  be  understood  that  he  regarded 


La  Ferte  (Cher)  in  1765.  He  was  officer  in  the  French  guards, 
emigrated,  served  in  Conde's  army,  and  afterwards  entered  the 
service  of  the  Comte  d'Artois,  who  entrusted  him  with  several 
missions  in  La  Vendee.  He  arrived  in  Paris  with  Pichegru  and 
Georges,  was  arrested  (4th  March),  and  condemned  to  death. 
The  penalty  was  commuted  to  transportation  after  a  term  of 
imprisonment  at  Joux. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,         165 

the  general  as  an  auxiliary,  without,  however, 
knowing  how  far  his  fidelity  might  be  trusted.  We 
shall  soon  see  that  the  elder  brother  pushed  this 
declaration  still  farther,  and  turned  a  constructive 
falsehood  into  a  positive  one.  He  yielded  altogether 
to  the  perfidious  instigations  of  the  police,  being  soon 
weary  of  the  feeble  effort  which  he  seems  to  have 
made  at  first,  to  tell  nothing  but  the  truth  in  speaking 
of  others,  and  to  speak  only  of  himself. 

One  of  the  conspirators  whom  the  police  had 
pursued  most  unrelentingly  was  Coster  Saint-Victor. 
He  had  lain  ever  since  the  3rd  Nivose  under  imputa- 
tion of  having  been  concerned  in  the  villainous 
attempt  of  that  day,  and  this  charge  would  be  sure 
to  have  a  fatal  effect  upon  his  present  situation.  He 
appeared  before  Dubois,  who  threatened  to  have  him 
shot  if  he  did  not  acknowledge  himself  guilty  of  all 
that  was  imputed  to  him  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  having 
taken  part  in  the  affair  of  the  3rd  Nivose,  and  of  being 
one  of  the  "brigands"  who  had  recently  come  from 
England  to  assassinate  the  First  Consul.  The 
dignity,  the  courage,  the  stamp  of  truth  that  marked 
all  his  replies,  struck  even  Dubois  himself.  Not 
only  did  he  deny  that  he  had  taken  any  part  what- 
ever in  the  attempt  of  the  3rd  Nivose,  but  he  also 
repudiated  the  charge  of  any  kind  of  complicity  with 
a  more  recent  project  of  attack  upon  the  Government. 
His  innocence  in  reference  to  the  first  accusation 
would  have  been  amply  demonstrated  to  any  other 
authority  except  the  police ;  as  for  the  second, 
although  it  was  more  probable,  there  is  not  a 
shred  of  evidence  that  it  was  more  just  or  better 
founded. 


1 66         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Real's  curiosity,  or  probably  his  vanity,  led  him  to 
endeavour  to  extract  a  confession  from  a  man  who 
had  humiliated  power  and  strength  in  the  person  of 
Dubois,  as  courage  and  nobility  of  mind  when  arrayed 
against  them  can  humiliate.  The  chief  was  not 
more  fortunate  than  the  subordinate.  Saint-Victor 
came  out  of  his  hands  with  his  secret,  if  he  had  one, 
safe,  and  having  given  additional  proofs  of  his  noble- 
minded  pride,  the  sincerity  of  his  political  opinions, 
and  the  impossibility  of  his  lending  himself  to  an 
assassination  plot. 

This  unfortunate  young  man,  who  belonged  to  a 
highly  respectable  family  in  the  Depaitmcnt  of  the 
Vosgcs,  and  was  endowed  with  all  the  advantages  of 
nature  and  education,  had  hastened  to  the  West 
immediately  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war. 
There  he  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  courage, 
the  zeal  with  which  he  had  served  the  royal  cause, 
and  his  deep  regret  for  the  cruelties  of  that  war,  and 
the  mere  brigandage  into  which  it  degenerated.  From 
that  time  forth  until  the  day  of  his  arrest,  his  life 
had  been  a  succession  of  misfortunes  and  persecution. 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  him  again.  He 
was  one  of  those  who  created  the  greatest  interest, 
and  whose  guilt  was  the  least  clearly  proven 
among  the  conspirators,  and  he  suffered  the  extreme 
penalty.1 

[Marg.  note.]  "  If  he  had  perished,  either  naturally  or  by 
the  hands  of  the  police,  only  the  day  before,  his  memory  would 
have  been  held  merely  that  of  a  brigand.  Condemned,  how- 
ever, to  appear  before  a  tribunal  and  to  be  assassinated  with  the 
formalities  of  justice,  he  died  honoured,  reputed  innocent,  and 
he  will  be  remembered  with  regret,  if  our  sorrow  for  the  more 
illustrious  names  and  memories  leave  us  leisure  to  mourn  the 
less." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         167 

If  all  the  accused  had  imitated  almost  all  those  of 
whom  I  have  spoken,  the  police  would  have  been 
obliged  either  to  withdraw  their  assertions  respecting 
the  conspiracy,  or  to  have  the  conspirators  secretly 
shot.  We  shall  see  not  only  that  they  were  not 
reduced  to  this  alternative,  but  to  what  extent  they 
had  reason  to  think  the  result  of  their  proceedings  was 
sufficiently  complete  to  bear  broad  daylight,  and  also  to 
hope  that  the  accused  might  be  sent  for  trial  without 
any  chance  of  escape  ;  for  hitherto  the  declarations  of 
the  two  Polignacs  were  too  vague  to  afford  the  cer- 
tainty of  this. 

A  first  triumph  was  obtained  over  Bouvet  Lozier,2 
one  of  the  men  on  whom  the  police  had  not  counted 
beforehand.  He  had  been  rather  intimate  with 
Georges,  Pichegru,  and  Lajolais  ;  a  good  and  suffi- 
cient reason  for  his  being  one  of  the  first  arrested. 

Lozier  was  brought  before  the  Prefect  of  Police, 
and  subjected  to  two  successive  examinations,  both 
very  minute  and  prolonged.  The  questions  put  to  him 
proved  to  demonstration  that  they  were  founded  upon 
former  revelations,  some  of  which  were  independent 
of  those  that  Lajolais  could  have  made,  and  in  fact 
had  made.  All  his  answers  were  frankly  and  posi- 
tively negative,  and  given  in  a  tone  of  irritation, 
which  bespoke  anger  and  impatience  rather  than 
firmness  and  constancy. 

He  was  taken  to  the  Temple  on  the  20th  Pluviose, 
and  seemed  to  be  forgotten  there  for  three  days  ;  but 


2  [Marg.  note.]  "Bouvet  was  an  fmigre ;  he  bore  the  title  of 
Adjutant-general  of  the  Army  of  the  Princes.  He  had  been  an 
officer  before  the  Revolution."  He  was  arrested  on  the  19th 
Pluviose  at  No.  36,  Rue  Saint  Sauveur. 


1 68         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

at  dawn  on  the  fourth  day  he  was  found  half-strangled, 
and  retaining  barely  sufficient  strength  to  ask  that  he 
might  be  brought  before  the  Grand  Judge,  in  order  to 
make  an  important  declaration.  He  was  immediately 
taken  to  the  Hotel  de  la  Police,  and  there  he  dictated 
the  strangest  declaration  that  ever  was  made  by  a 
man  in  a  situation  like  his.3  His  words  were  taken 
down  in  writing. 

"  A  man  who  comes  forth  from  the  gates  of  the 
grave,"  thus  he  began,  "who  is  still  overcast  by 
the  shadow  of  death,  calls  for  vengeance  upon 
those  who  by  their  treachery  have  flung  him  and 
his  party  into  the  abyss  in  which  they  lie."  The 
rest  of  the  declaration  was  a  plain  and  full  com- 
mentary upon  this  emphatic  and  mysterious  text. 

Bouvet's  party  was  the  party  of  the  French 
princes,  which  was  working  in  Paris  for  the  overthrow 
of  Bonaparte's  Government,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons.  The  perfidious  traitor  who  had  ruined 
this  party,  and  on  whom  Bouvet  Lozicr  in  his  despair 
invoked  vengeance,  was  Moreau  ;  Moreau  who  had 
promised  his  support  to  the  cause  of  the  Bourbons, 
and  who,  when  the  adherents  of  that  cause  came  to 
act  in  concert  with  him,  retracted  the  promise  he 
had  given,  the  promise  which  had  drawn  them  to  Paris, 
and  designed  to  employ  them  solely  for  the  purposes 
of  his  own  personal  ambition.4 

Details,  imprudently  solicited  or  accepted  by  the 
police,  without  consideration    of   whether  it    would 

8  [Marg.  note.]  "His  hands  were  horribly  swollen  when  he 
appeared  before  Regnier."  He  made  his  declaration  at  mid- 
night, on  the  22nd  Pluviose.     (See  "  Proces,"  vol.  ii.  p.  158.) 

4  "The  accusation  that  I  bring  against  him,"  adds  liouvet, 
"  is  perhaps  supported  only  by  half-proofs." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        169 

afterwards  be  possible  to  keep  up  any  appearance  of 
probability,  were  brought  to  the  support  of  this  man's 
declaration.  Not  only  was  the  meeting  on  the 
Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine  represented  to  have 
actually  taken  place,  but  another  in  the  Champs  Ely- 
sees  was  alleged.  Very  likely  a  meeting  was  desired 
by  Pichegru  or  Georges,  and  promised  by  Lajolais, 
but  it  never  was  granted  by  Moreau. 

This  impudent  declaration  eloquently  proved  that 
the  torture  had  been  more  skilfully  and  effectually 
applied  in  the  dark  solitude  of  a  prison  than  at  the 
Prefecture  of  Police,  and  that  Bouvct  Lozier  had 
added  to  the  infamy  of  his  statements  the  gross  false- 
hood of  imputing  the  outrage  by  which  they  had  been 
wrung  from  him  to  a  mad  act  on  his  own  part. 

Six  days  after  this  declaration,  Bouvet  underwent 
a  third  examination  before  Real.  The  object  of  this 
interrogation  was  to  commit  Bouvet  more  deeply  to 
his  allegations  against  Moreau,  to  make  him  say  that 
the  French  prince  who  was  to  take  the  command  in 
chief  of  the  royalist  party  immediately  upon  its 
organization,  being  dissatisfied  with  the  insufficiency 
of  the  resources  of  that  party,  had  resolved,  in  con- 
sideration of  that  insufficiency,  to  accept  the  support 
of  Moreau,  or  to  solicit  it ;  and  that  the  hopes  of  the 
prince  were  chiefly  founded  upon  the  promises  and 
the  influence  of  the  republican  general.  So  well 
pleased  was  Real  with  the  compliance  of  Bouvet 
Lozier  that  he  ventured  to  put  questions  to  him 
on  purpose  to  verify  the  accuracy  of  Lajolais'  reports, 
and  confirm  his  strict  obedience  to  the  instructions  of 
the  police. 

At  the  same  time  that    Real  was  oblaining  these 


170        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

advantages,  he  was  contending  with  Rolland,  whose 
revelations  would  be  of  much  greater  importance 
than  those  of  Bouvet  Lozier.  The  latter  could  do 
Moreau  no  harm,  except  by  reporting  or  inventing 
statements  which  he  had  not  himself  heard  from  the 
general's  lips  ;  but  the  former  had  it  in  his  power  to 
ruin  Moreau  by  merely  repeating  what  he  had  heard 
him  say,  leaving  it  to  the  police  to  interpret  and  touch 
up  his  statements. 

Of  all  those  who  were  accused  of  conspiracy  and 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  police  and  the  tribunal, 
Rolland  was  the  most  utterly  and  openly  condemned 
by  public  opinion.  It  has  been  almost  universally 
believed  that  he  had  sold  beforehand  to  the  police  all 
the  secrets  which  he  might  find  out  from  Picbegru 
and  Moreau  by  acting  as  their  go-between.  J  think 
this  notion  was  unfounded,  and  there  are,  unfortu- 
nately, degrees  enough  in  baseness  to  admit  of  the 
general  judgment  being  unjust  to  Rolland. 

All  the  facts  seem  to  prove  that  he  could  not  have 
been  denounced  to  the  police  except  by  Lajolais.  He 
was  arrested  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and  brought 
before  Real  ;  the  "  high  police  "  only  being  in  posses- 
sion of  the  information  on  which  he  might  be  effica- 
ciously questioned.  He  acknowledged  that  he  had 
given  Pichegru  shelter  for  two  nights,  asserting  that 
he  did  not  know  him,  and  believed  his  intention  was 
to  proceed  immediately  to  Germany  ;  but  he  denied 
everything  concerning  his  relations  with  Moreau. 

He  was  removed,  immediately  after  his  examination 
by  Real,  to  one  of  the  smallest  and  most  unwhole- 
some cells  at  St.  Pelagie,  and  there  he  remained  until 
the  20th  Ventose,  subjected  to  hardships  which  would 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Constilaie.       171 

have  amply  proved,  if  the  fact  had  needed  proof,  that 
his  examination  had  highly  displeased  the  police.  On 
the  29th  he  was  again  questioned  by  Real,  who  had 
found  time  in  the  interval  to  concoct  the  plan  of  this 
new  experiment.  The  Councillor  of  State  and  Chief 
of  Police  began  by  giving  Rolland  to  understand  that 
he  had  received  information  which  would  enable  him 
to  test  the  truth  of  his  replies,  and  went  on  to 
question  him  with  the  object  of  obtaining  an  acknow- 
ledgment that  he  had  for  a  long  time  been  abetting 
the  efforts  that  were  made  to  bring  Pichegru  back  to 
France  ;  that  with  this  design  he  had  formed  rela- 
tions with  Lajolais,  and  he  was  informed  by  him  of 
Moreau's  interest  in  the  return  of  Pichegru,  of  a  nego- 
tiation that  had  been  set  on  foot,  and  a  journey  made 
to  London  by  Lajolais  at  Moreau's  desire.  Rolland's 
replies  to  all  these  questions  were  evasive  or  negative. 
But  at  length  Real  approached  the  events  that  had 
followed  Lajolais'  return,  Pichegru's  conferences  with 
Moreau,  the  account  of  the  result  of  those  conferences 
which  the  former  had  doubtless  given  him,  and  the 
mediation  between  the  two  generals  with  which  he 
was  entrusted  ;  and  in  order  to  deepen  the  impression 
made  by  his  questions,  he  entered  into  the  most 
minute  details  of  Pichegru's  short  sojourn  at  Rolland's 
house. 

"  And  now,"  said  Real,  "  you  had  better  be  careful 
lest  by  keeping  silence  you  should  deprive  the  police 
of  knowledge  which  it  is  important  for  them  to  have  ; 
for  you  will  only  force  me  to  think  you  an  accom- 
plice of  the  conspirators,  and  not  merely  their  confi- 
dant. I  strongly  advise  you,  therefore,  to  state  plainly 
to  me  not  only  what  Pichegru  told  you  of  his  inter- 


172        The  Last  Djys  of  the  Consulate. 

view  with  Morcau,  but  also  what  Morcau  himself  said 
to  you  when  you  went  to  him  on  behalf  of  Pichegru." 
In  order  to  induce  Rolland  to  do  this  with  less  hesita- 
tion, Real  repeated  the  substance  of  the  conversation 
with  Morcau. 

It  was  then  that  Rolland  discovered  to  what  an 
extent  he  had  been  betrayed  by  Lajolais  ;  but  being 
more  alarmed  than  incensed  by  such  conduct,  he 
imitated  it,  and  became,  all  of  a  sudden,  so  far  as  in 
him  lay,  the  fellow-villain  of  him  whose  infamy  he 
cursed.  Abandoning  all  reserve,  all  half-confessions, 
all  round-about  ways,  he  told  out  plainly  everything 
that  had  passed  between  Pichegru,  Morcau,  and 
himself.  Coming  to  the  famous  conversation  that 
he  had  held  with  Moreau  on  behalf  of  Pichegru,  he 
spoke  as  follows  :6 — 

"In  the  day  (after  he  had  had  a  conversation  wi'.h 
richegru  on  the  preceding  evening)  I  had  to  go  and 
make  the  famous  overture,  which  I  could  no  longer 
evade,  to  Moreau.  I  hoped,  I  do  not  know  why,  that 
the  general  would  get  me  out  of  my  difficulty.  This 
is  as  nearly  as  possible  the  answer  he  made  me :  '  I 
cannot  put  myself  at  the  head  of  any  movement  for 
the  Bourbons.  They  have  all  behaved  z o  ill,  that  such 
an  attempt  would  not  succeed.  If  Pichegru  brings 
about  an  action  in  another  sense — and  in  that  case  I 
have  told  him  it  would  be  necessary  that  the  Consuls 
and  the  Governor  of  Paris  should  disappear — I  think 
I  have  a  sufficiently  strong  party  in  the  Senate  to 
obtain  authority.      I   should    immediately  use  it  to 

*  Fauriel  has  transcribed  only  the  first  six  words  of  this 
declaration,  which  we  give  from  the  text  of  the  report  of  the 
trial.     (See  "  Proces,"  vol.  ii.  p.  483.) 


The  Last  Days  of  I  lie  Consulate.        173 

place  all  his  people  in  safety,  and  afterwards  to  do 
whatever  public  opinion  dictated  ;  but  I  will  not  pledge 
myself  to  anything  in  writing.'  " 

I  have  faithfully  quoted  this  portion  of  Rolland's 
declaration,  because  it  furnished  the  most  serious  im- 
putation brought  against  Moreau;  because  I  believe 
it  truly  represents  what  actually  did  occur,  and  also 
because  it  explains  several  important  parts  of  the  plot 
laid  by  the  police  against  Moreau. 

Rolland  had  no  sooner  made  this  declaration  than 
he  was  transferred  from  St.  Pelagie  to  the  Abbaye. 
He  was  acquainted  with  the  prison  gate-keepers,  and 
the  severity  with  which  he  had  hitherto  been  treated 
was  so  completely  relaxed  that  he  could  hardly  have 
been  more  comfortable  in  his  own  home.  The  next 
day  the  indulgence  of  the  police  was  extended  to 
allowing  him  to  go  to  his  house,  "to  put  his  affairs 
in  order,"  he  said.  This  proved  how  well  pleased  the 
police  were  with  Rolland's  baseness,  but  it  would  have 
been  prudent  to  dissemble  their  gratitude  to  him  a 
little  more  adroitly. 

Couchery,  the  young  man  who  accompanied 
Lajolais  in  his  most  suspicious  expeditions,  and  aided 
Pichegru  in  his  most  perilous  proceedings,  and  who 
could  therefore  add  fresh  details  to  the  information  in 
the  possession  of  the  police,  or  confirm  those  they 
already  had  by  direct  testimony,  was  not  arrested 
until  a  late  stage  of  the  affair.  He  was  taken  on 
the  8th  Germinal,  and  brought  before  Real.  At  his 
first  examination  he  acknowledged  his  relations  with 
Pichegru,  and  stated  that  he  had  visited  him  at 
Chaillot,  where  Georges  had  found  an  asylum.  He 
also  named  the  confederates  whom  he  had  seen  with 


1 74        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

these  two  chiefs.  He  spoke  of  the  interviews  that 
had  taken  place  between  Moreau  and  Pichegru,  and 
especially  of  the  meeting  on  the  Boulevard  de  la 
Madeleine,  as  if  Georges  had  been  present  at  them. 
These  first  avowals,  whatever  they  were,  might  have 
been  suggested  by  fear  and  cowardice  only ;  but  two 
days  later  he  presented  to  Real  an  elaborate  and 
detailed  declaration  which  had  been  required  from 
him  on  a  fixed  day,  and  the  tenour  of  this  document 
was  such  as  to  raise  a  suspicion  of  more  than  fear 
and  weakness  on  his  part.  He  related  all  he  knew 
concerning  Lajolais'  journey  to  London,  and  all  he 
knew  of  Piche^ru's  actions  both  as  a  witness  of  them 
and  from  information  obtained  from  others ;  he 
also  gave  it  to  be  understood  indirectly  that  Geoi 
Cadoudal  had  maintained  relations  with  Moreau. 
Proceeding  then  to  reason  upon  the  facts  which  he 
had  just  stated,  and  interpreting  the  intentions  of  the 
persons  whose  actions  he  had  just  revealed,  he 
declared  himself  "  inclined  to  believe"  that  the  recon- 
ciliation of  Pichegru  with  Moreau  was  noc  uncon- 
nected with  the  projects  of  Cadoudal,  but  was  only  a 
preliminary.  There  was  more  uncertainty  or  greater 
hypocrisy  in  his  opinion  upon  the  secret  views  of 
Moreau,  but  he  furnished  a  wide  and  ready  field  to 
the  interpretations  and  instructions  of  the  police  ;  and 
in  the  state  to  which  they  had  already  brought  things 
they  did  not  want  Couchery's  declarations  to  be 
impudent ;  it  was  enough  that  they  were  damaging 
and  treacherous. 

Rusillion    was   another   of   the   confederates    with 
whom  the   police  had  every  reason    to  be  pleased.6 

•  F.  L.  Rusillion,  a  major  in  the  Swiss   army,  was  born   at 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        175 

He  was  born  in  Switzerland,  and  bad  been  a  captain 
in  the  regiment  whose  services  were  formerly  sold  to 
France.  The  revolution  caused  him  to  retire  to  his 
own  country,  where  he  was  largely  mixed  up  with 
the  schemes  and  interests  of  the  French  emigres. 
Switzerland  had  been  subdued  by  the  French  troops, 
Rusillion  was  arrested,  brought  to  Paris  and  impri- 
soned in  the  Temple,  where  he  remained  three  whole 
years.  Being  set  a  liberty  he  returned  to  Switzer- 
land, where  he  was,  to  all  appearances,  subjected  to 
fresh  persecution  ;  he  then  retired  to  England,  and 
renewed  his  former  acquaintance  with  Pichegru  and 
the  Comte  d'Artois.  He  had  determined  to  accom- 
pany the  general  on  his  expedition  to  France,  as  a 
proof  of  his  devotion  to  the  prince. 

On  the  very  day  of  his  arrest  he  made  a  declara- 
tion before  the  Prefect  of  Police,  which  was  simple  to 
the  point  of  silliness.  He  stated  that,  to  his  great 
regret,  he  had  joined  with  Pichegru  and  some  others 
to  accomplish  the  overthrow  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment ;  that  he  had  been  told  Moreau  was  acting  in 
concert  with  Georges  and  Pichegru  with  the  same 
purpose ;  but  that  in  the  conferences  which  took 
place  between  those  three  chiefs,  Moreau,  while  per- 
sisting in  the  overthrow  of  Bonaparte,  wanted  to 
effect  it  for  his  own  advantage,  and,  as  Lajolais  had 
assured  him  in  London,  for  the  advantage  of  the 
Bourbons.  To  account  for  these  frank  accusations 
against  himself  and  his  real  or  pretended  accomplices, 


Yverdon  in  1748.  He  landed  with  Pichegru  at  Reville,  was 
arrested  on  the  15th  Ventose,  tried  with  Georges,  and  con- 
demned to  death.  The  penalty  was,  however,  commuted,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  set  at  liberty. 


176        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Rusillion  represented  his  conduct  as  an  act  of  ven- 
geance for  the  injustice  of  the  French  Government 
towards  him.7  In  short,  his  declaration  was  a  parody 
of  the  revelation  of  Bouvet  Lozier. 

Of  all  the  accused  who  had  not  sold  themselves 
beforehand,  Rusillion  seems  to  have  offered  least 
resistance  to  the  curiosity  of  the  police.  I  have 
indeed  failed  to  discover  that  he  hesitated  to  betray 
his  companions  for  one  moment.  It  is  surprising  that 
such  an  associate  should  have  been  chosen  by 
Pichegru. 

Rochelle,8  who  had  left  a  lawyer's  office  for  the 
ranks  of  the  Republican  army,  and  passed  from  them 
into  a  legion  of  French  dmign's,  had  been  arrested 
with  Rusillion,  and  on  being  questioned  by  Dubois, 
he  denied  all  connection  with  the  persons  whom  the 
police  were  pursuing.  Real  then  examined  him,  but 
failed  to  elicit  more  than  a  repetition  of  these  denials. 
When,  however,  he  was  handed  over  to  the  "instruct- 
ing judge,"  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  confronted 
with  Lajolais,  he  acknowledged  the  conspiracy,  and 
declared  he  had  been  informed  by  Lajolais  that 
Moreau  was  at  the  head  of  it. 

After  all  these  avowals  and  declarations,  Leridan's  * 

7  See  "Proces,"  vol.  ii.  p.  191. 

8  E.  F.  Rochelle,  born  in  Paris  in  1768.  After  several  cam- 
paigns in  Conde's  army  he  returned  to  France,  and  from  the 
insurrection  of  the  13th  Yendemiaire  he  was  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Damian.  He  was  obliged  to  fly,  but  returned  to  France 
in  1798,  was  arrested,  escaped,  got  away  to  England,  and  came 
back  with  Pichegru.  He  was  arrested  on  the  15th  Ventose  and 
condemned  to  death,  but  the  penalty  was  commuted. 

9  Leridan  was  born  at  Vannes  in  1778.  On  the  evening  of 
the  1 8th  Ventose  he  took  Georges  out  with  him  in  a  cabriolet, 
and  on  that  occasion  Georges  was  arrested.  He  escaped  for 
the  moment,  but  was  arrested  shortly  afterwards,  and  as  he  was 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         177 

still  deserve  to  be  quoted,  as  having  formed  the 
basis  of  the  hopes  and  calculations  of  the  police. 
We  have  seen  that  Leridan,  who  was  to  Georges 
what  Couchery  was  to  Pichegru,  was  arrested  with 
Georges.1  He  acknowledged  before  the  Prefect  of 
Police  all  that  he  had  done  for  Georges,  and  the 
most  remarkable  point  in  his  statement  was  concerning 
a  journey  into  Brittany,  with  a  purpose  which  was, 
no  doubt,  connected  with  Cadoudal's  hopes  for  the 
ultimate  success  of  his  designs  against  Bonaparte's 
Government,  founded  as  those  hopes  were  upon  a 
region  so  well  accustomed  to  revolt  and  civil 
war. 

I  have  not  yet  said  anything  of  the  conduct  of 
Lajolais  in  presence  of  the  police,  or  of  the  manner 
in  which  he  played  the  part  of  conspirator  in  a  con- 
spiracy whose  most  useful  and  subservient  instrument 
he  had  been.  The  reader  may  perhaps  be  surprised 
that  his  name  should  appear  so  late,  that  he  should 
come  after  the  others  who  served  as  material, 
for  the  edifice  built  up  by  the  police  ;  but  we  have 
seen  what  he  did,  and  irom  that  we  know  what 
answers  he  must  have  made  to  Real's  questions. 
Many  were  his  equivocations,  evasions,  and  devices 
to  secure  some  means  of  defence,  while  making 
himself  out  to  be  the  accomplice  of  those  whom  he 
had  but  betrayed.  He  appeared  six  or  seven  times 
in  succession  before  Real,  who  had  not  even  ordinary 
readiness    enough   to  put   his    question  so  that    the 

condemned  to  only  two  years'  imprisonment,  he  was  believed  to 
be  in  complicity  with  the  police. 

1  We  have  already  explained  that  the  chapter  in  which  an 
account  of  the  arrest  of  Moreau,  Georges,  &c,  was  to  have  been 
given,  was  left  unwritten  by  Fauriel. 

N 


178        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

answers  might  seem  to  have  been  disputed  and  pro- 
voked. Lajolais  was  so  over-subservient  as  to 
allow  statements  which  were  not  only  false,  but  were 
also  of  no  importance  to  the  police  to  be  inserted  in  his 
declarations.  After  having  divulged  all  Pichegru's 
secrets,  all  his  relations  with  Moreau,  and  mixed  up 
with  the  facts  everything  that  suited  the  purpose  of 
the  police,  he  pretended  that  his  conduct  towards 
Pichegru  and  Moreau  had  been  dictated  by  no  other 
motive  than  that  of  reconciling  those  two  great  men 
with  each  other  and  with  the  Government. 

I  have  briefly  summarized  the  declarations  of  only 
sixteen  out  of  the  thirty-three  persons  who  were 
accused  of  conspiracy,  and  for  this  I  have  had  two 
reasons.  Firstly,  I  wished  to  avoid,  so  far  as  I 
possibly  could,  relating  the  substance  of  the  famous 
trial,  and  therefore  had  to  limit  myself  to  recording  the 
conduct  of  the  most  important  of  the  accused  persons, 
and  the  meaning  and  spirit  of  the  declarations  which 
formed  the  basis  of  the  act  of  accusation,  and  sup- 
plied the  chief  incidents  and  characteristic  features 
of  the  trial.  Again,  other  confederates  whose  con- 
duct and  avowals  furnished  less  important  matter  to 
the  history  of  the  trial  did  not  make  those  confessions 
before  the  police,  but  before  the  instructing  judge, 
and  up  to  the  present  I  have  confined  myself  to  giving 
an  idea  of  the  violence  and  threats  to  which  the 
police  resorted  on  taking  the  initiative  in  the  pro- 
secution. 

These  resources,  however  considerable  they  ap- 
peared, were  not  sufficient  to  enable  the  police  to 
dispense  with  treachery  and  cunning.  In  proof  of 
this  assertion   I   shall   cite   only  two   instances,  not 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        i  79 

exactly  as  the  most  remarkable,  but  as  the  most 
undeniable,  and  because  the  police  failed,  notwith- 
standing all  the  precautions  they  employed,  to  keep 
them  from  a  scandalous  publicity. 

One  of  the  accused  was  a  person  named  Monnier, 
a  schoolmaster  at  Aumale,  a  little  town  in  Normandy. 
His  wife  had  also  been  arrested  on  the  same  charges, 
i.e.  that  of  having  given  lodging  for  some  time  to 
three  of  the  confederates,  Louis  Ducorps,  his  brother 
Noel  Ducorps,  and  Raoul  Gaillard,  an  intimate 
associate  of  Cadoudal,  and  that  of  having  sheltered 
Georges  himself  and  five  or  six  of  his  companions 
for  one  night  alter  their  landing  in  France. 

Monnier's  wife  had  a  young  girl  named  Payen  as 
a  servant,  and  this  girl  witnessed  the  arrival  of 
Georges  Cadoudal  and  his  associates  at  Monnier's 
house.  Shortly  afterwards  she  was  sent  away  from 
Aumale  to  Paris  by  her  employers,  and  taken  into 
the  service  of  Verdet,  one  of  the  accused,  who  was 
also  charged  with  having  afforded  a  refuge  to 
Georges. 

Monnier  and  his  wife  are  arrested  on  the  12th 
Pluviose — they  could  not  have  been  denounced  by 
any  person  except  Querelle — the  woman  is  dragged 
away  from  six  small  children  and  an  infant  of  a  week 
old,  and  ill  and  terrified,  she  is  thrust  into  the  Aumale 
prison.  There  a  woman  volunteers  to  give  her  not 
only  all  the  care  that  her  condition  requires,  but  the 
consolation  for  which  her  motherly  heart  craves. 
The  woman  enters  into  her  sufferings,  shares  them, 
arouses  her  apprehensions  about  the  hospitality  which 
she  had  shown  to  suspected  persons,  and  pretending 
a  hypocritical  zeal  for  her  safety,  she  proposes  to 

N    2 


i8o        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

prevent  the  dangerous  revelations  which  might  be 
made  in  Paris  by  the  girl  formerly  in  the  employ- 
ment of  the  Monniers,  and  who  had  already  been 
arrested.  She  then  writes  a  letter  on  behalf  of 
Monnier's  wife  to  the  girl  Payen,  in  which  she 
instructs  her  how  to  reply  to  the  questions  which 
will  be  put  to  her,  and  this  letter  is  so  contrived  that 
the  individuals  whose  names  the  girl  is  charged  not 
to  reveal  are  pointed  out  clearly  though  indirectly. 
Instead  of  reaching  Payen,  the  letter  goes  into  the 
hands  of  the  police ;  for  the  woman  who  is  so 
solicitous  for  the  safety  of  the  poor  creature  whom 
she  is  nursing,  is  no  other  than  an  agent  of  the 
police,  expressly  employed  to  suggest  the  idea  of 
this  letter  and  to  get  it  written. 

The  police  are  not  satisfied  with  having  received 
the  desired  document ;  they  answer  it  in  the  name  of 
the  girl  Payen,  who.can  neither  read  nor  write,  and 
has  not  the  least  notion  of  what  is  taking  place,  and 
the  letter  of  the  police  is  framed  so  as  to  induce  their 
victim  to  send  a  second,  confirming  the  preceding 
one. 

Monnier  and  his  wife,  reckoning  on  the  efficiency 
of  their  correspondence,  and  not  doubting  that  the 
girl  Payen  would  scrupulously  carry  out  the  system 
of  denial  dictated  by  it,  pursued  the  <ame  course 
themselves  for  a  long  time,  and  made  no  admissions 
until  their  own  letters  were  produced  and  presented 
to  them. 

The  second  instance  which  I  have  promised  to  cite, 
although  it  was  not  more  treacherous,  was  productive 
of  graver  consequence  ;  and  the  police  looked  for 
more  valuable  results  from  it. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        181 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Michel  Roger,2  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  Coster  Saint- Victor,  was  arrested  with 
him.  These  friends  were  of  the  same  age,  they 
came  from  the  same  place,  and  they  had  embraced 
the  same  cause  with  equal  ardour.  While  Coster 
Saint-Victor  commanded  a  legion  of  rebels  in  the 
district  of  Vitre,  Roger  commanded  Cadoudal's 
cavalry  in  Morbihan.  Roger,  like  Coster,  had  refused 
to  make  any  kind  of  communication  to  the  police, 
and  they  had  been  obliged  to  take  him  to  the  Temple 
without  having  extracted  anything  from  him  that 
would  send  one  of  the  accused  to  the  scaffold.  Shortly 
after,  gendarmes  were  placed  on  guard  over  him,  and 
relieved  each  hour.  The  prisoner  with  the  ready  in- 
discretion of  a  talkative  Frenchman,  not  to  be  re- 
pressed even  by  a  prison  and  suspicious  company, 
got  into  conversation  with  his  guards,  and  discussed 
the  conspiracy,  the  rumours  that  had  arisen  con- 
cerning the  intentions  of  Georges,  and  the  part 
taken  by  Moreau.  Such  talk  as  this  was  evidently 
a  mere  indiscretion  of  Roger's  ;  it  could  not  possibly 
have  been  more;  but  the  gendarmes  treated  it  as 
a  serious  communication,  and  hastened  to  impart 
it  to  their  officer.  He  instantly  carried  it  to  Thu- 
riot,3  who  was  then  at  work   upon  the  "  instruction  " 

2  Michel  Roger,  called  Loiseau,  born  at  Toul.  After  having 
served  in  the  corps  of  the  emigres,  and  in  the  Austrian  army,  he 
retired  to  England,  took  part  in  the  Breton  insurrection  in  1799, 
under  the  orders  of  Georges  Cadoudal,  returned  to  England,  and 
came  back  to  France  before  the  attempt  of  the  3rd  Nivose. 
He  once  more  went  to  England,  but  was  brought  back  to  Paris 
by  Georges,  where  he  was  arrested  with  Coster  Saint-Victor  on 
the  19th  Pluviose,  at  the  Rue  Saintonge,  was  condemned  to 
death,  and  executed. 

3  Jacques  Alex.  Thuriot  de  la  Rosierc,  Advocate  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, had  been  a  member  of  the  Legislative  body,  and  also  of 


1 82         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

of  the  trial.  The  four  gendarmes  deposed  in  succes- 
sion that  they  had  heard  Roger  speak  of  Moreau, 
Pichegru,  and  Georges  as  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy, 
and  say  that  the  former  was  to  take  the  command 
of  the  army  of  Boulogne  and  to  lead  it  upon  Paris. 
The  four  gendarmes  who  were  guilty  of  this  infamous 
action  had  only  obeyed  orders.* 

We  have  now  seen  how  the  principal  confederates 
behaved  and  answered  when  examined  before  the 
police.  There  was  another  class  over  which  the 
police  exerted  a  like  influence,  although  it  consisted 
of  persons  who  were  only  accused  of  having  furnished 
the  conspirators  with  lodging,  arms,  or  clothing,  or 
done  them  other  services  of  a  similar  kind.  The 
number  of  the  accused  was  fourteen,  six  of  these  being 
women.  They  almost  all  lived  by  letting  lodgings, 
and  were  poor,  uneducated  people,  to  whom  the  title  of 
conspirators  could  only  have  been  applied  in  ridicule. 

Not  one  of  these  persons  refused  to  give  the 
police  the  information  which  was  required,  and  there 
is  little  doubt  that  they  broke  no  faith  by  doing  so, 
for  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  they  were  in  the 
confidence  of  the  conspirators.  It  is  hardly  proved 
that  they  even  knew  the  names  of  the  latter,  and  in 
any  case  their  evidence  could  not  be  of  any  great 
importance,  as  it  could  only  prove  what  was  already 
proved,  i.e.  the  presence  of  the  conspirators  in  Paris, 
the  visits  they  exchanged,  and  the  precautions  taken 


the  Convention.  He  was  then  a  judge  of  t\ie  Tribunal  of  the 
Seine,  and  although  he  had  been  instructor  and  reporter  in  the 
case  of  Georges  and  the  others  accused,  he  nevertheless  sat 
upon  the  trial  and  took  part  in  the  judgment.  We  shall  see 
hereafter  what  bitterness  he  displayed  against  Moreau. 
4  This  matter  is  afterwards  referred  to. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         1 8 


j 


by  some  of  them  to  conceal  themselves.  It  had  no 
bearing  on  the  conspiracy  or  its  objects. 

The  man  who  had  brought  the  principal  conspira- 
tors to  the  dwellings  in  which  they  had  found  shelter 
was  Charles  d'Hozier,5  formerly  page  to  Louis  XVL 
After  he  had  lost  his  position  and  his  fortune,  he 
joined  the  party  of  revolt  in  the  west.6  He  acknow- 
ledged having  done  all  that  was  stated  in  procuring 
lodging  for  his  accomplices,  but  was  careful  to  deny 
that  he  had  acted  thus  with  any  intention  of  conspiring 
or  favouring  conspirators.7 

Nevertheless,  neither  the  insignificance  of  this 
class  of  accused  persons,  nor  the  non-importance  of 
their  testimony  for  the  purposes  of  the  police,  served 
to  protect  them  from  threats,  ill-treatment,  and  tor- 
ture. The  accused  were  not  safe  from  the  treachery 
of  the  police,  even  within  the  prison  walls.  Men 
who  passed  for  captives  like  themselves  were  shut  up 
with  them  to  make  them  talk,  and  report  what  they 

5  Charles  d'Hozier,  born  in  Paris  in  1775.  He  was  page  of 
the  royal  stables  from  1789  until  the  10th  of  August,  1792.-  He 
had  set  up  a  livery  stable  and  coaching  establishment  in  Paris, 
which  enabled  him  to  render  more  than  one  service  to  Cadoudal. 
He  was  arrested,  tried,  and  condemned  to  death,  but  the  penalty 
was  commuted  to  imprisonment,  followed  by  transportation. 

6  [Marg.  note.]  "He  had  been  a  volunteer  for  a  long  time, 
and  had  afterwards  been  second  in  command  of  the  legion  of 
La  Guerche.  He  was  employed  at  the  pacification  to  effect  the 
disbandment  of  the  legion  of  Mardelles,  and  settled  at  Rennes 
with  Generals  Brune  and  Hedouville  to  superintend  the  execu- 
tion of  the  treaty.  In  1801,  being  molested  at  Rennes,  he  came 
to  Paris." 

7  [Marg.  note.]  "He  acknowledged,  however,  although 
vaguely,  that  he  had  heard  a  project  for  overthrowing  the 
Government,  but  without  violence  (just  as  the  same  thing  had 
been  done  on  the  18th  Brumaire),  discussed  at  Georges'  abode. 
It  was  not  until  after  the  arrest  of  Georges  and  Pichegru  that 
he  thought  they  might  be  among  the  chiefs." 


184        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consul  Ate, 

said.  Several  were  watched,  night  and  day,  by  gen- 
darmes, in  the  same  way  as  the  principal  conspirators. 
We  have  already  seen  the  purpose  that  was  served  by 
this  measure,  and  we  shall  soon  see  that  it  formed  a 
part  of  a  plan  more  deeply  laid  and  sagacious  than 
appears  at  first  sight. 

Even  the  women  were  not  exempt  from  the  harshest 
treatment,  and  some  of  them  were  subjected  to  the 
grossest  insult,  in  order  to  verify  suspicions  equally 
base  and  baseless.8 

Such,  then,  were  the  chief  results  of  the  initiative 
taken  by  the  police  in  the  procedure  against  the  con- 
spirators. The  examinations  conducted,  the  declara- 
tions collected  by  the  police,  and  the  various  docu- 
ments in  their  possession  were  the  exclusive  and 
necessary  materials  for  the  judicial  "  instruction  "  which 
was  to  follow. 

On  the  15th  Ventosc,  the  Grand  Judge,  who  was  at 
once  Minister  of  Police  and  Justice,  sent  the  docu- 
ments that  had  been  collected  up  to  that  date  to  the 
tribunal.  These  documents  were  largely  supplemented 
afterwards,  but  the  most  essential,  the  papers  which 
really  constituted  the  treasure  of  the  police,  were 
comprised  in  the  first  batch.1 

On  the  following  day  the  president  Of  the  tribunal * 
appointed  the  "  judge  of  instruction,"  who  was  to  pro- 

8  [Marg.  note.]  "A  law  of  the  nth  Germinal  enacts  that  no 
woman  can  be  tried  on  a  charge  carrying  capital  punishment 
unless  it  has  been  ascertained  whether  she  is  pregnant  or 
not." 

1  [Marg.  note.]  "  These  documents  were  the  result  of  all  the 
preceding  measures  of  the  police." 

1  Hemart.  He  had  been  procurator  to  the  parliament  of 
Paris,  and  was  appointed  president  of  the  Criminal  Tribunal  of 
the  Seine  after  the  iSth  Brumaire. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        185 

ceed  to  examine  the  accused.  The  honour  of  this 
important  task  devolved  upon  Thuriot,  and  he  was 
well  worthy  of  it.  Among  the  twelve  members  of 
which  the  tribunal  of  the  Seine  was  composed,  he  was 
no  doubt  not  the  only  one  base  enough  to  make  the 
judicial  prosecution  that  he  had  to  conduct  subserve 
the  passions  and  the  plans  of  the  Government,  but  he 
was  the  only  one  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
National  Convention ;  and  this  circumstance  gave 
him  a  special  aptitude  for  the  commission  with  which 
he  was  charged.  In  fact,  Thuriot  had  constantly  sat 
with  the  party  of  the  Mountain  ;  he  had  shared  its 
principles  and  its  extravagance  until  the  period  of  the 
9th  Thermidor,  when  he  joined  the  ranks  of  those 
who  undertook  to  revenge  upon  his  creatures  after 
his  death  the  cruelty  and  tyranny  for  which  they 
had  applauded  Robespierre  in  his  prosperity.  In 
common  with  every  other  member  of  that  famous 
assembly,  Thuriot  had  been  inspired  by  the  spirit 
which  characterized  it,  by  that  fierce  hatred  of  royalism, 
that  detestation  of  kings  and  their  partisans,  which 
is,  unhappily,  quite  compatible  with  love  of  tyranny 
and  ignorance  of  liberty.  To  hand  over  partisans  of 
Louis  XVIII.  to  Thuriot  for  him  to  prosecute  was 
simply  to  place  personal  enemies  in  his  power,  and  it 
might  safely  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  would  ask 
no  other  reward  for  the  services  which  he  was  ex- 
pected to  render  to  despotism  than  the  pleasure  of 
having  acted  as  its  instrument. 

The  part  of  instructing  judge  was  difficult,  but  it 
was  at  least  very  simple,  and  strictly  defined. 

The  accused  were  to  be  led  to  confirm  the  avowals 
that   had  been  obtained  from  them  by  the  police  ; 


1 86        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

the  persons  concerned  in  the  declarations  or  admis- 
sions were  to  be  confronted  with  those  who  had  made 
the  latter ;  evidence  relative  to  the  facts  of  the  accu- 
sation was  to  be  heard,  and  the  witnesses  were  to  be 
confronted  with  the  accused. 

The  first  of  these  three  operations  gave  rise  to  some 
anxiety.  Would  not  men  who  had  made  admissions 
under  the  surprise  and  shock  of  their  arrest,  and  who 
had  only  yielded  to  the  fear  of  the  first  moment,  have 
repented,  in  the  leisure  and  reflection  of  prison  hours, 
of  having  endangered  the  lives  of  their  companions  in 
danger  and  evil  fortune  by  their  cowardice  ?  And, 
again,  was  there  not  cause  for  apprehension  when  the 
accused  and  the  witnesses  should  be  brought  face  to 
face  ?  Would  those  who  had  betrayed  their  comrades 
fail  and  blush  when  they  found  themselves  in  the 
presence  of  their  victims?  All  these  misgivings 
proved  to  be  unfounded,  because  the  instructing 
judge  was  enabled  to  use  the  same  means  of  forcing 
the  witnesses  to  stand  by  their  testimony  as  the  police 
had  employed  in  obtaining  it. 

Almost  all  the  conspirators  made  the  same  figure 
before  the  instructing  judge  as  they  had  made  before 
the  police.  A  few  attempted  some  slight  modifica- 
tions of  their  admissions,  which  merely  showed  that 
they  were  impotently  ashamed  of  what  they  had 
done.  Others  hesitated  to  identify,  in  their  presence, 
certain  individuals  whom  they  had  boldly  denounced 
as  their  own  accomplices  ;  but  Thuriot  paid  no  sort 
of  attention  to  shades  of  hesitation,  and  utterly  dis- 
regarded any  appearance  of  remorse  or  attempt  at 
retraction.3 

*  [Marg.  note.]  "  The  only  important  denial  that  was  made 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        1S7 

Others  demanded  the  rectification  of  several  false 
and  inaccurate  statements  which  had  been  slipped  into 
their  depositions  made  before  the  police  ;  but  Thunot 
eluded  the  majority  of  these  demands,  sometimes  by 
cunning,  sometimes  by  impudence. 

Looking  at  the  summary  result  of  the  instruction, 
and  relatively  to  its  real  object,  which  was  to  preserve 
the  fruit  of  the  measures  and  exertions  of  the  police 
in  its  integrity,  we  can  judge  that  not  only  was  that 
object  accomplished,  but  also  that  the  appearances  of 
the  trial  became  still  more  favourable  in  the  hands  of 
Thunot  than  they  had  been  in  those  of  the  police. 

Armand  Polignac,  who  had  spoken  of  Moreau  in 
his  examination  before  Real  in  an  uncertain  and 
evasive  way,  stated  to  Thuriot  that  he  knew  a  very 
serious  conference  had  taken  place  at  Chaillot  be- 
tween Moreau,  Georges,  and  Pichegru,  and  that  this 
conference  had  resulted  only  in  unsatisfactory  uncer- 
tainty. He  also  declared  he  had  heard  it  said  that 
Moreau  appeared  to  have  private  interests,  and  not 
to  be  firmly  faithful  to  the  cause  of  the  princes. 

Rusillion  added  to  all  he  had  already  alleged, 
that  from  information  which  he  had  received  he  had 
always  regarded  Moreau  as  the  man  to  be  chiefly 
counted  on,  and  who  was  really  counted  on,  because 
he  seemed  to  have  an  imposing  force  at  his  disposal, 
and  to  possess  great  ascendency  over  the  authorities. 

The  occasions  on  which  Moreau  was  confronted 
with  Lajolais,  Rolland,  and  Couchery,  were  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  the  interests  of  the  police. 

It  was  not  until    the  9th    Germinal   that  Moreau 

in  the  course  of  the  proceedings  was  that  of  the  declaration  of 
the  four  gendarmes  by  Roger." 


1 88         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

was  made  acquainted  with  Rolland's  examination  ; 
on  the  2^nd  of  the  same  month  he  was  in  forme  \  of 
Couchery's,  and  eight  days  later  Lajolais'  replies 
were  communicated  to  him.  Thus  it  was  not  until 
nearly  two  months  after  his  arrest  that  Morcau  had 
a  real  knowledge  of  his  position  and  the  charges 
against  him. 

Dating  from  the  first  of  these  communications, 
Moreau,  who  had  previously  denied  everything, 
acknowledged  a  portion  of  the  facts  contained  in 
the  examination  of  his  denouncers,  and  was  obliged 
to  refute  and  explain  the  remainder.  He  denied  that 
he  had  even  given  Lajolais  any  mission  for  England. 
He  admitted  not  only  that  he  had  received  Pichegru 
on  one  occasion  at  his  own  dwelling,  but  that  he  had 
been  questioned  by  him  concerning  the  chances 
which  the  re-establishment  of  monarchical  forms  in 
France  offered  for  the  return  of  the  Bourbons.  He 
alleged  that  in  reply  he  had  pointed  out  to  Pichegru 
that  an  attack  directed  against  the  Government  in 
general,  and  especially  an  attack  made  for  the 
advantage  of  the  Bourbons,  would  be  madness.4  lie 
explained  his  famous  conversation  with  Rolland  by 
saying,  that  Rolland  having  asked  him  whether  he 
had  pretensions  to  authority  in  his  own  person,  he 
had  replied  that  any  such  pretension  on  his  part 
could  be  nothing  but  folly ;  that  he  had  no  influence 
whatsoever,  leading  a  quiet  life  as  he  did,  far  from  the 
members  of  the  great  bodies  of  the  State  ;  and  that 
for  him,  Moreau,  to  have  any  pretensions,  the  whole 
Bonaparte  family,  the  Consuls,   the  Consuls'  Guard, 

4  [Marg.  note.]  "  He  made  this  answer  on  the  9th  Germinal 
Pichegru  was  not  dead." 


The  L  ast  Days  of  the  Consulate.         1 89 

the  Governor  of  Paris,  &c ,  would  have  to  dis- 
appear. 

Such  was  the  substance  of  Moreau's  answers  upon 
the  matters  comprised  in  the  examinations  of  Rolland 
and  Lajolais.  His  denials  and  his  interpretations 
were  correct  upon  many  of  the  points,  but  on  the 
latter  it  is  likely  that  Rolland's  statement  was  more 
near  the  truth  than  the  explanation  of  it  put  forward 
by  Moreau. 

Many  reflections  might  be  made  upon  Moreau's 
having  acknowledged  almost  all  the  facts  on  which 
the  charges  brought  against  him  bore  ;  I  shall,  how- 
ever, place  only  two  before  the  reader.  Was  it  mag- 
nanimous to  admit  that  Pichegru  had  made  over- 
tures to  him  to  join  in  a  conspiracy?  Was  it  more 
prudent  to  place  a  subtle  interpretation  upon  his 
conversation  with  Rolland  than  to  deny  it  strongly  ? 
As  the  doubt  between  the  veracity  of  Rolland  and 
that  of  Moreau  bears  upon  the  fact  itself,  would  not 
the  general  have  had  more  advantage  than  in  a 
supposition  where  the  matter  in  dispute  was  merely 
the  terms  of  a  phrase  ?  In  the  state  of  things  set  up 
by  Moreau's  answer,  Rolland  did  not  indeed  cease  to 
be  an  infamous  man,  but  Moreau's  conduct  assumed 
an  equivocal  aspect. 

As  for  Lajolais  and  Rolland,  I  have  learned  nothing 
which  leads  me  to  think  that  they  experienced  any 
difficulty  in  maintaining  their  respective  attitudes  in 
presence  of  Moreau.  The  former  persisted  in  his 
falsehoods,  mingled  with  truth  ;  the  latter  in  the 
almost  exact  truth.  The  one  persevered  in  his 
infamy  because  he  had  resolved  beforehand  on 
being   infamous ;    the   latter   thought,  perhaps,  that 


190        The  Last  Days  of  the  Conszriate. 

the  part  of  an  informer  was  relieved  from  some  Oi  its 
shame  by  the  genuineness  of  the  information. 

While  the  instructing  judge  was  proceeding  with 
the  judicial  informations  against  the  accused  who 
were  at  this  time  safely  under  lock  and  key,  the 
police  did  not  relax  their  search  for  those  who  had 
hitherto  escaped  them.  Three  subordinate  agents 
of  the  conspiracy,  named  respectively  Lemercier,5 
Lelan,  and  Cadoudal,  were  arrested  in  the  vicinity  of 
Rennes,  at  the  beginning  of  Germinal,  when  on 
their  way  to  a  place  of  safety,  after  the  alarm  of  the 
arrests  In  Paris.  Lemercier  was  a  journeyman 
printer,  the  two  others  were  farmers.  They  were 
transferred  to  the  Temple,  and  placed  in  the  hands 
of  Thuriot,  without  having  passed  through  those  of 
Dubois  and  Rdal.  By  dint  of  threats,  and  terrifying 
them  by  the  prospect  of  being  immediately  shot, 
Thuriot  forced  from  them  some  statements  dictated 
by  himself,  which,  although  they  played  no  great 
part  in  the  instruction  of  the  trial,  supplied  certain 
corroborative  details.  They  denounced  some  of  the 
confederates  who  had  taken  part  in  the  second  land- 
ing, and  they  asserted  that  during  their  own  stay  in 
England  they  had  received  regular  pay,  and  on  their 
departure  an  extra  gratuity,  together  with  pistols  and 
poniards  ;  the  pay  and  the  gratuities  being  attributed 
to  the  English  Government. 

Louis  Ducorps,6  also  a  farmer,  who  had  acted   as 

6  Guillaume  Lemercier,  born  at  Bignan,  took  part  in  the 
Chouan  war,  and  'lived  in  England  for  a  short  time  after  the 
pacification  in  1800.  He  was  arrested  with  J.  B.  Cadoudal  near 
Saint  Aubin  du  Cormier.  Both  these  persons,  with  Lelan,  who 
was  arrested  one  day  later,  were  condemned  to  death,  and 
executed. 

*  L.  Ducorps,  born  at  Saint-Piat  (Eure  et  Loire)  in   1758. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        191 

guide  to  several  of  the  conspirators  who  had  lodged  at 
Monnier's  house,  when  they  left  that  refuge  to  resume 
their  journey,  either  from  Aumale  to  Paris,  or  from 
Paris  towards  the  coast,  and  had  fled  when  Monnier 
and  his  wife  were  arrested,  was  taken  on  the  22nd 
Germinal  at  a  village  near  Chartres.  He  made  some 
unimportant  and  untrue  declarations  under  torture, 
as  well  as  acknowledging  the  services  he  really  had 
rendered  to  some  of  the  conspirators. 

I  now  come  to  the  hearing  of  the  witnesses,  who 
may  be  divided  into  three  classes. 

The  first  consisted  of  those  who  could  testify  to  the 
facts  of  the  action  of  the  police  and  their  pursuit  of 
the  conspirators,  such  as  the  arrest  of  each,  with  its 
particular  incidents. 

The  second  consisted  of  those  who  could  reveal 
facts  which  fixed  the  intention  of  conspiring,  and 
acts  done  in  accordance  with  that  intention,  upon  the 
accused. 

The  third  consisted  of  those  who  could  tell  what 
were  the  means  adopted  by  the  confederates  to  escape 
from  the  pursuit  of  the  police,  the  places  of  refuge 
which  they  had  found,  and  the  relations  that  they 
had  kept  up  either  between  themselves  or  with 
persons  who  were  strangers  to  their  association  and 
its  purposes.  On  the  first  point  the  witnesses  could 
not  fail,  and  the  circumstances  to  which  their  evidence 

After  the  insurrection  of  Sancerrois,  in  which  he  took  an  active 
part,  with  the  rank  of  captain,  he  was  arrested  and  sentenced  to 
ten  years'  imprisonment,  escaped,  and  retired  to  Orleans.  He 
acted  as  guide  to  Pichegru,  Georges,  &c.,  on  their  landing. 
After  their  arrest  he  escaped  to  Saint-Piat,  was  arrested  there, 
and  tried  with  the  other  confederates,  sentenced  to  death,  and 
executed.  He  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for  Noel  Ducorps,  who  was 
acquitted. 


192        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

was  directed  were  capable  of  being  exactly  defined. 
It  was,  for  instance,  very  easy  to  prove  legally  that 
Georges  Cadoudal  had  killed  one  man  and  wounded 
another  on  the  occasion  of  his  arrest. 

The  second  point,  which  was  t!ie  most  important  to 
establish,  was  also  the  most  difficult.  Testimony 
bearing  upon  facts  directly  relative  to  the  intention 
and  the  acts  of  the  conspiracy  was  almost  necessarily 
deficient  ;  and  therefore  the  police  took  so  much 
trouble,  and  resorted  to  such  strange  means  in  order 
to  elicit  admissions  from  the  accused.  They  could 
find  only  four  witnesses  who  really  belonged  to  that 
class,  and  we  shall  easily  be  able  to  estimate  their 
quality. 

The  reader  will  remember  the  four  spies7  belong- 
ing to  a  class  generally  despised  even  among  spies, 
on  whose  information  Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois8  had 
been  condemned  to  death.  Besides,  their  evidence, 
which  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  conspiracy 
actually  in  question,  bore  only  upon  one  of  the 
accused  persons,  Roger,  called  Loiseau,  the  friend  of 

7  These  four  spies  were  two  tailors,  named  Bouille  and  Mar- 
chand,  the  wile  of  Bouille,  and  a  feather-seller  named  Desjardins. 
They  had  gone  to  London  in  year  X.,  and  settled  there  ;  but 
after  they  had  revealed  the  projects  of  Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois 
to  Andreossi.the  French  ambassador,  they  at  once  left  England 
and  came  to  Paris,  where  they  repeated  their  denunciation. 
See  the  declarations  of  these  persons,  in  the  third  volume  of  the 
u  Proces." 

8  T.  Picot,  born  at  Rouen,  a  soldier  in  the  Chasseurs  de  la 
Montagne,  deserted  in  order  to  join  the  royalist  army,  and 
served  successively  under  Scdpeaux  and  Frotte.  who  made  him 
chief  of  division.  After  the  pacification  (1800),  he  was  arrested 
at  Rouen  with  Le  Bourgeois  and  Querel.  The  three  men  were 
sentenced  to  death  by  a  court-martial.  Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois 
were  shot.  Querel,  as  already  stated,  saved  his  life  by  becoming 
an  informer. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         193 

Coster  Saint- Victor;  and  according  to  that  evidence, 
supposing  it  to  be  trustworthy  and  judicially  admis- 
sible, Roger  might  indeed  be  held  an  accomplice  of 
Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois,  but  not  of  Georges. 

Witnesses  of  the  third  class  were  very  numerous. 
Men  obliged  to  change  their  place  of  abode  frequently, 
to  disperse  in  twos  and  threes,  and  to  communicate 
by  means  of  persons  who  were  either  neutral  or 
ignorant  of  their  secrets,  were  liable  to  being  exposed 
by  a  number  of  witnesses  in  proportion  to  the  diffi- 
culty and  the  necessity  of  their  changes  of  domicile. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  nature  of  things  that  all  the 
men  who  had  given  shelter  to  the  conspirators,  who 
had  served  as  messengers  for  the  correspondence 
between  them,  who  had,  in  short,  rendered  them 
services  of  any  kind,  might  be  considered  accomplices 
of  the  conspirators,  if  the  police,  and  even  justice, 
pleased  to  regard  them  in  that  light. 

The  police,  nevertheless,  selected  from  among  the 
numerous  class  of  those  who  had  given  shelter  or 
otherwise  rendered  service  to  the  conspirators  only 
fourteen  persons,  who  were  treated  as  accomplices,  and 
were  to  be  brought  to  trial  as  such.  The  police  could 
just  as  readily  and  reasonably  have  indicted  a 
hundred  of  this  class,  but  they  attached  no  great  im- 
portance to  it  It  was  enough  that  they  had  at  their 
disposal  a  certain  number  who  could  give  a  greater 
appearance  of  truth  to  the  general  accusation  by 
varying  its  shades.  The  police  plan  was  to  get  a 
greater  advantage  out  of  the  others  by  making  them 
appear  as  witnesses.  As  the  nature  of  their  testi- 
mony did  not  bear  upon  the  fact  of  the  conspiracy,  it 
>;vas  not  to  be  hoped  that  it  could  furnish  direct  proof 

O 


194         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

against  the  conspirators  ;  but  their  mere  numbers  lent 
an  imposing  appearance  to  the  trial  in  the  eyes  of  the 
multitude,  always  more  ready  to  count  witnesses  than 
to  weigh  evidence.9 

These  witnesses  were  treated  as  severely  by  the 
police  as  the  confederates  themselves.  Like  the  latter, 
they  were  interrogated  with  threats  and  treachery,1 
almost  all  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  several  under- 
went tortures,  either  in  prison  or  at  the  Prefecture,  as 
severe  as  those  by  which  the  accused  had  been  forced 
into  admissions  to  the  destruction  of  themselvc 
their  accomplices.  Even  women,  although  it  was  an  all 
but  generally  accepted  principle  of  jurisprudence  not 
to  call  women  as  witnesses,  were  cruelly  tormented 
in  order  to  force  from  them  statements  which  the 
police  believed  could  be  obtained,  but  which  they 
WOttid  not  make  spontaneously.  A  girl,'2  only  fifteen 
years  of  age,  and  who  could  not  possibly  have  had 
anything  important  to  reveal,  was  not  exempted  from 
treatment  which  at  the  present  day  it  is  against  the 
principles  of  justice  to  inflict  upon  criminals  convicted 
of  a  capital  offence.  I  have  heard  the  number  of 
witnesses  of  the  third   class  who  were  subjected  to 


*  One  hundred  and  thirty-nine  witnesses  for  the  prosec  ition 
were  examined  on  the  trial. 

1  The  ninety-second  witness,  the  girl  Boubet,  a  dressmaker, 
deposes:  u  I  was  so  severely  treated  that  1  quite  lost  my  head. 
They  threatened  me,  they  said,  '  You  are  going  to  be  shot, 
guillotined  '  "  (u  Proces,"  vol.  v.  p.  314). 

2  Denise  Lemoine,  seamstress,  called  as  a  witness,  says  in 
her  deposition,  "  I  shall  have  something  to  say— it  is  that  I 
have  suffered  a  great  deal,  sir,  from  their  having  put  chains  on 
my  feet— me,  a  girl  of  fifteen."  Said  the  president,  ''You  can 
make  your  complaints.  Write  to  the  procurator-general " 
(who  was  present,  and  said  nothing  !).  See  "  Proces,"  vol.  vi. 
p.  245. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        195 

torture  put  down  at  fourteen,  and  although  I  am 
not  in  possession  of  any  positive  information  on 
this  point,  I  am  convinced  the  statement  is  not 
exaggerated. 

All  the  proceedings,  the  confronting  of  the  accused 
with  each  other  and  with  the  witnesses,  took  place  in 
one  of  the  large  rooms  of  the  Temple,  in  presence  of 
a  not  numerous  public,  composed  of  gendarmes  on 
duty,  a  small  group  of  spectators  who  had  obtained 
permission  to  gratify  their  curiosity  from  the  police, 
the  instructing  judge,  or  the  Temple  gate-keeper,  and 
a  band  of  police  agents  whose  business  it  was  to  listen 
to  and  report  all  that  was  said  around  them.  The 
police  either  distrusted  their  own  accomplices  in  the 
very  act  of  their  procedure  against  the  accused,  or 
they  wanted  to  make  out  fresh  grievances  against  the 
latter  at  the  moment  when  they  already  regarded  them 
as  condemned.  After  this  fashion,  then,  was  the  article 
of  the  penal  law,  which  enacts  that  the  instruction  of 
a  criminal  trial  shall  be  public,  like  the  pleadings  at 
the  trial  itself  and  the  sentence  which  follows  them, 
carried  out  in  this  notorious  instance. 

It  now  becomes  as  necessary  as  it  is  easy  briefly  to 
retrace  the  chief  details  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
police  and  of  the  judicial  information  in  this  matter, 
and  the  grounds  upon  which  the  Government  based 
their  hope  of  getting  out  of  an  affair  with  the  honours 
of  justice  which  they  had  planned  and  prepared  with 
all  the  devices  of  cunning  and  all  the  excesses  of 
violence. 

Their  business  was  now  to  prove  two  distinct 
theories  :  that  there  existed  a  conspiracy  for  the  pur- 
pose of  restoring  the  French  monarchy  to  the   Bour- 

0    2 


196         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

bons,  and  that  Moreau  was  implicated  in  that  con- 
spiracy. As  proof  of  the  first  fact  they  had  to  offer  the 
avowals  of  one  of  the  chiefs  oftheconspiracy,and  those 
of  five  or  six  of  his  principal  agents  or  confidants. 

For  proof  of  the  second  they  counted  on  the  infor- 
mation extracted  from  the  three  or  four  men  who  had 
been  either  witnesses  of  the  relations  between  Moreau 
and  Pichegru,  or  go-betweens  in  them. 

From  the  first  moment  of  his  arrest  Pichegru's  con- 
duct had,  however,  opposed  an  obstacle  to  the  schemes 
and  experiments  of  the  police  which  they  had  vainly 
endeavoured  to  surmount.  The  absolute  and  total 
denials  of  the  general  were  of  necessity  exceedingly 
embarrassing,  for  not  only  might  they  endanger 
the  revelations  of  Lajolais  and  the  avowals  of. 
Rolland,  carrying  as  they  did  at  least  equal  weight 
with  the  latter  ;  but  they  weakened  Moreau's  own 
admissions  to  a  certain  extent.  Pichegru,  denying 
obstinately  and  without  exception  all  that  had  passed, 
undoubtedly  injured  more  or  less  the  effect  which 
the  police  expected  to  be  created  by  such  community 
and  uniformity  as  existed  between  the  admissions  of 
Moreau,  Lajolais,  and  Rolland.  The  police  had,  there- 
fore, from  the  first  moment,  left  no  means  untried  of 
obtaining  answers  favourable  to  their  purpose  from 
Pichegru. 

On  the  very  evening  of  his  arrest  the  general  en- 
joyed the  special  distinction  of  being  questioned  by 
Real  and  Dubois  jointly,  either  because  chance  had 
brought  them  together  on  the  occasion,  or  because 
Bonaparte  had  given  orders  to  that  effect,  so  as  to 
render  the  examination  of  so  important  a  confederate 
the  more  imposing.     The  questions  put  to  him  were 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       197 

insidious  and  menacing  by  turns  ;  they  represented  to 
him  that  it  was  to  the  honour  of  a  man  who  had 
played  a  glorious  part  in  the  army  and  in  the  State  to 
tell  the  truth  respecting  the  facts  on  which  he  was 
questioned. 

He  met  everything  by  absolute  denial  or  jesting 
evasion. 

"  With  whom  did  you  return  from  England  to 
France  ? "  asked  the  questioner. 

"  All  alone,"  replied  the  general. 

"  By  what  way  ?  "  added  Real. 

"  By  the  way  of  a  ship." 

He  contented  himself  with  answering  every  question 
touching  directly  upon  the  facts  upon  which  the 
police  wanted  to  get  admissions  from  him,  "  It  is 
false,"  roughly,  firmly,  and  in  a  tone  of  mingled  inso- 
lence and  contempt.  He  denied  that  a  reconciliation 
had  taken  place  between  himself  and  Moreau,  that  he 
had  seen  him,  or  commissioned  any  person  to  speak 
to  the  general  on  his  behalf.  Lastly,  he  refused  to 
sign  the  deposition,  alleging  that  the  questions 
and  answers  were  falsely  and  treacherously  misrepre- 
sented. It  was  true  that  in  the  question  which  Real 
put  to  Pichegru  concerning  his  reconciliation  with 
Moreau  he  had  made  the  former  say  distinctly  that 
the  latter  repented  of  having  lent  his  aid  to  the  18th 
Fructidor,  and  that  he  no  longer  regarded  certain 
events  in  the  same  light.  This  was  a  very  perfidious 
insinuation  against  Moreau,  which  the  police  could 
not  fail  to  turn  to  their  own  purpose. 

He  was  again  examined  by  Real  on  the  following 
day,  and  this  second  interrogatory  had  no  more 
favourable  result  than  the  first. 


198         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

He  was  made  aware  (but  not  until  the  10th  Ger- 
minal) of  the  avowals  of  Rolland,  the  statement  of 
the  perfidious  Lajolais,  and  the  equivocal  and  treach- 
erous declaration  of  Couchery ;  then  he  was  con- 
fronted with  those  three  persons,  and  subsequently 
with  several  others  among  the  accused  who  had  spoken 
of  him.  He  persisted  in  his  refusal  to  explain  himself 
upon  the  facts  alluded  to  in  their  examinations  ;  he 
scorned  even  to  give  them  the  lie,  and  would  never  con- 
sent to  sign  any  report  of  his  confrontation  with  them. 

Torture  was  inflicted  upon  him  in  the  secrecy  and 
silence  of  his  prison  ;  certain  details  of  that  torture 
have  been  related  in  which  it  is  difficult  to  beli< 
even  on  the  part  of  the  man  for  whose  interest  it  was 
resorted  to.  But  Pichegru's  tormentors  failed  to  ex- 
tract from  him  any  avowal  whatever,  good,  bad,  or 
indifferent.  Jn  short,  from  the  moment  of  his  arrest 
Pichegru  acted  like  a  man  who  felt  himself  lost,  who 
would  not  dispute  his  life  with  the  police,  or  give  them 
the  advantage  of  appearing  to  have  immolated  him 
with  all  the  solemnity  of  judicial  form. 

Bonaparte  was  furious  at  this  obstinate  refusal  to 
make  the  avowals  which  so  many  others  had  made  ; 
and  he  was  also  disturbed  by  it,  because,  as  I  have 
already  said,  Pichegru's  conduct,  without  essentially 
endangering  the  result  of  all  the  preparatory  judicial 
and  police  measures,  might  nevertheless  be  an  ob- 
stacle in  the  trials,  produce  an  impression  contrary 
to  that  required  by  the  Government,  and  multiply  or 
strengthen  the  chances  of  failure. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  on  the  15th  Germinal. 
On  the  morning  of  the  1 6th,  Paris  rang  with  the  news 
of  Pichegru's  suicide  in  prison.     This  intelligence  was 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         199 

first  announced  to  Thuriot  at  the  Temple,  and  in- 
stantly transmitted  by  him  to  the  public  accuser, 
Andre  Gerard.  That  official  immediately  summoned 
the  judges  of  the  two  sections  of  the  tribunal,  communi- 
cated the  information  he  had  just  received,  and  required 
them  to  take  measures  to  verify  the  fact,  establish  the 
identity  of  the  suicide  with  Pichegru,  and  collect  all 
the  attainable  information  relative  to  the  event.  The 
tribunal  nominated  a  commission  of  five  persons, whom 
it  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  requisition  of  the 
public  accuser.  The  commissioners  proceeded  to  the 
Temple,  were  conducted  to  the  room  inhabited  by 
Pichegru,  saw  his  corpse  stretched  upon  a  bed,  and 
gave  orders  that  it  should  be  immediately  examined 
by  five  surgeons  and  a  physician  nominated  by  them. 
These  six  persons  came  before  the  commission  of 
the  tribunal,  and  having  formally  described  the 
corpse  examined  by  them,  solemnly  declared  that 
they  had  observed  upon  it  all  the  signs  o(  strangu- 
lation, and  found  upon,  it  the  instruments  by  means 
of  which  that  strangulation  had  been  effected. 

They  found  a  black  silk  cravat  knotted  round 
the  neck ;  this  had  been  gradually  tightened  by 
means  of  a  stick  which  turned  in  it  ;  the  cheek 
on  the  side  on  which  the  st'ck  had  been  turned 
was  stained  with  blood,  and  one  end  of  the  stick 
was  fixed  upon  the  cheekbone,  so  as  to  bring  the 
exact  amount  of  pressure  necessary  to  effect  the 
strangulation  to  bear  upon  the  cravat.  Added  to 
these  particulars  were  other  signs,  certain  to  exist 
in  a  strangled  corpse.  After  they  had  received  this 
report,  which  attested  that  there  was  at  the  Temple 
an    individual  who   had    died   by  strangulation,    the 


200        The  Last  Days  of  the  Cons ic late. 

judges  caused  it  to  be  certified  by  six  witnesses  that 
the  individual  in  question  was  Pichegru. 

Two  of  the  objects  of  the  Judges'  Commission 
were  secured  by  this ;  they  now  had  only  to  collect 
information  upon  the  event  that  had  occurred. 
There  was  little  to  learn  in  addition  to  the  facts 
of  the  report.  Pichegru's  gaoler  declared  that  he  had 
taken  away  the  key,  and  on  re-entering  the  room 
in  the  morning  had  found  the  prisoner  dead.5 
This  circumstance,  more  than  any  other  in  the 
report,  was  calculated  to  produce  the  belief  that 
Pichegru  had  strangled  himself. 

Finally,  the  commissioners  gave  orders  that  Piche- 
gru's body  should  be  removed  from  the  Temple  to 
the  tribunal ;  and  the  same  day,  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  they  made  their  report  of  all  the  operations 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  them,  and  of  the  result 
of  their  investigations.  The  commissioners  required 
that  the  body  should  be  opened  by  the  same  surgeons 
who  had  examined  it. 

On  the  morrow,  the  17th  Germinal,  the  tribunal 
reassembled  for  the  execution  of  the  judgment  of 
the  previous  day,  and  separated  to  await  the  report 
of  the  surgeons.  Their  report  was  made  in  the 
presence  of  two  judges  and  the  deputy  of  the  Govcrn- 

3  This  gaoler,  named  Papou,  deposed  that  he  had  gone  into 
the  general's  room  at  seven  o'clock,  and  that  u  not  seeing  him 
move,  and  fearing  lest  some  accident  had  befallen  him,  he  went 
on  the  instant  to  inform  citizen  Fauconnier,  the  gatekeeper  at 
the  Temple.''  ('"  Recueil  des  Pieces  Authentiques  Relatives  au 
Suicide  de  l'ex-General  Pichegru,"  p.  17.)  The  account  given 
by  M.  Thiers  is  incorrect.  He  says,  "Towards  daybreak,  the 
gaolers  on  duty,  hearing  some  stir  in  his  room,  entered, 
and  found  him  suffocated,  his  face  red,  as  if  he  had  been  struck 
with  apoplexy." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        201 

ment  commissary.  The  tribunal  resumed  its  sitting 
to  hear  an  anatomical  and  physiological  report  of  the 
operation  which  had  just  been  completed.  But  the 
conclusion  of  this  report  was  as  strange  as  its  contents 
were  disgusting.4  It  deserves  to  be  quoted  here : — 
"We  have  observed  that  the  oesophagus  was  perfectly 
healthy  throughout  all  its  length,  so  far  as  the  part 
of  the  neck  where  the  strangulation  has  been  effected  ; 
therefore  we  continue  to  believe  that  Charles  Pichegru, 
ex-general,  has  committed  suicide  by  the  means 
which  we  have  indicated  in  the  report  of  yesterday." 
This  conclusion  of  the  report  clearly  conveys  its 
motive,  but  I  am  not  aware  of  what  means  were 
employed  to  induce  six  surgeons  solemnly  to  declare 
before  a  tribunal  a  fact  which  it  was  absurd  for  them 
to  attest,  unless  they  were  prepared  to  add  either  that 
they  had  been  witnesses  to  the  fact,  or  that  it 
was  physically  easier  for  Pichegru  to  strangle  himself 
than  to  be  strangled  by  others. 

Immediately  after  the  reading  of  this  report,  the 
Government  commissary  rose  and  delivered  a  set 
speech.     I  will  quote  a  few  passages  from  it : — 

"  Citizen  magistrates,"  said  he,  addressing  the 
judges,  "the  publicity  which  you  have  given  to  all 
the  operations  necessary  to  establish  the  fact  of  the 
suicide  of  Charles  Pichegru,  ex-general,  fittingly 
concludes  the  proceedings  prescribed  by  you  in  this 
matter. 

"  You  have  not  to  arraign  the  memory  of  a  man 
who  was  accused  of  being  guilty  of  great  crimes. 

"The   instruction  of  the  affair   in  which  he   was 

4  It  is  evident  that  Fauriel  had  never  read  a  report  upon  an 
autopsy. 


202         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

implicated  is  going  on  ;  it  will  soon  become  public, 
and  the  stage  it  had  reached  at  the  moment  when 
Pichegru  destroyed  himself  will  add  a  strong  moral 
proof  to  the  legal  proofs  that  establish  the  facts. 

"Malignity,  intrigue,  party  spirit,  enmity,  and 
malevolence  will  then  attempt  to  pervert  public 
opinion  in  vain. 

"  Contemporaries  will  say,  and  posterity  will 
repeat, — 

•"  A  Frenchman  having  become  profoundly  guilty 
towards  his  country,  saw  no  midway  between 
voluntary  death  and  the  scaffold ;  he  committed 
suicide.'  " 

These  pompous  assertions  were  terminated  by  a 
requisition  for  the  interment  of  Pichegru's  body,  and 
for  the  printing  and  distribution  of  the  report  of  the 
surgeons  and  physicians  which  had  just  been  read. 
The  tribunal  immediately  gave  orders  accordingly. 
Towards  evening  on  the  same  day  a  hearse,  accom- 
panied by  three  or  four  persons,  arrived  at  the  cemetery 
of  Saint  Catherine,  near  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  The 
hearse  was  not  observed  by  anybody,  or,  if  it  attracted 
a  passing  glance,  was  taken  for  that  of  some  poor 
person  who  had  not  even  wherewithal  to  insure  the 
attendance  of  a  few  friends  at  his  grave.  This  humble 
funeral  was  Pichegru's  ;  his  coffin  was  placed  in  the 
earth  in  the  presence  of  two  of  the  doorkeepers  of  the 
Criminal  Tribunal — his  coffin,  who,  ten  years  before, 
would  have  been  accompanied  to  his  resting-place 
with  every  mark  of  honour  and  testimony  of  respect 
in  the  name  of  the  whole  nation. 

Such  was  the  end  of  General  Pichegru,  a  man 
whose  renown  had  for  a  brief  space  filled  the  whole 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        203 

of  Europe.  He  was  born  in  1 761,  in  the  small  town 
of  Arbois,  in  the  department  of  the  Jura.  Although 
his  family  was  poor  and  obscure,  he  had  no  reason  to 
complain  of  fate,  for  he  was  carefully  educated.  At 
an  early  age  he  displayed  a  passionate  taste  for  study, 
and  a  decided  talent  for  the  exact  sciences.  At 
twenty,  he  was  mathematical  and  philosophical  tutor 
in  a  school  kept  by  the  Minimes,  or  Friars  Minor,  at 
Brienne.  It  was  at  their  school  at  Arbois  that  he 
had  been  educated.  At  twenty-two  he  entered  a 
regiment  of  artillery  as  a  private,  and  was  made 
Serjeant- major  in  1789.  This  was  not,  in  the  opinion 
of  all  those  who  knew  him,  the  limit  of  his  capacity, 
but  it  was  that  of  the  chances  of  a  low-born  man  in 
the  artillery. 

He  adopted  the  principles  and  the  sentiments  of 
the  French  Revolution  at  its  outset  with  eagerness, 
and,  so  far  as  can  be  known,  with  sincerity.  It  was 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  Besancon  "  Societe 
Populaire,"  when  he  was  its  president,  that  he  was 
nominated  chief  of  a  battalion  of  the  volunteers  of 
Gard,  with  which  he  joined  the  army  of  the  Rhine. 
He  very  soon  made  his  mark,  even  more  by  his 
talents  and  firmness  of  character  than  by  his  valour  : 
for  the  latter  was  at  that  time  too  common  a  quality 
in  the  army  of  the  Republic  to  convey  a  title  to 
distinction. 

He  was  present  at  the  disaster  of  Weissembourg, 
one  of  the  most  signal  reverses  ever  experienced  by  a 
French  army  ;  a  defeat  which  marks  the  awakening 
of  that  heroic  spirit  among  the  soldiers  of  the  Republic 
which  enabled  the  determination  to  conquer  to  sur- 
mount the  want  of  means.     baint-Just  was  then,  in 


204        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

his  capacity  of  delegate  from  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  the  "  Supreme  Superintendent  "  of  the  army  of 
the  Rhine.  Saint-Just,  whose  sincere  and  earnest  wish 
it  was  that  the  French  Republic  should  resemble  that 
of  Sparta,  who  would  probably  have  been  regarded 
as  a  sage  in  Lacedemonia  but  died  on  the  scaffold  in 
France,  was  looked  upon  as  a  scoundrel  by  the  more 
violent,  and  as  a  madman  by  the  more  indulgent. 
He  raised  Pichegru  to  the  command-in-chief  of  the 
army.  The  secondary  motives  of  this  selection  were 
Pichegru's  abilities  ;  the  chief  motives  were  his  obscure 
birth,  and  the  privilege  of  having  served  in  the  lov 
ranks  of  the  army. 

Pichegru,  acting  in  concert  with  Hoche,  who  then 
commanded  the  army  of  the  Moselle,  drove  the 
enemy  out  of  all  that  portion  of  French  territory 
which  they  occupied  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Rhine,  and  forced  them  back  under  the  walls  of 
Mayence.  The  victories  of  that  campaign  were 
perhaps  due  rather  to  Pichegru's  force  of  character 
than  to  his  military  talents,  and  to  a  repetition  of 
partial  advantages,  rather  than  to  those  great  deeds 
of  war  which  became  frequent — one  might,  indeed,  say 
habitual — only  when  the  soldiers  of  the  French  army 
were  able  to  combine  the  experience  of  a  prolonged 
military  training  with  civic  enthusiasm,  and  to  add 
the  confidence  born  of  many  glorious  recollections  to 
both. 

In  the  following  campaign  Pichegru  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  army  of  the  Nord  and  that  of 
Sambre  and  Meuse.  The  campaign,  rendered  famous 
by  the  conquest  of  Holland  in  the  great  frost,  lent 
fresh  lustre  to  Pichegru's  renown.     The  next  year  he 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Conszdate,        205 

returned  to  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  and,  strange  to 
say,  it  was  at  the  moment  when  he  was  publicly 
receiving  the  testimonies  of  the  national  gratitude, 
and  reaping  all  the  fruits  of  glory,  that  he  entered 
upon  a  negotiation  with  the  Prince  de  Conde,  which 
unmistakably  indicated  treason  to  the  Republic — that 
is  to  say,  to  the  party  which  had  hitherto  profited  by 
his  services  and  still  reckoned  upon  their  continuance. 
It  is  an  ungrateful  and  vain  task  to  endeavour  to 
explain  the  motives  of  the  deviation  of  men,  taken  as 
individuals,  from  the  general  rules  of  human  prudence 
and  conduct,  and  to  reconcile  exceptional  indivi- 
dualities with  some  abstract  type  of  human  nature. 
If,  nevertheless,  we  persist  in  trying  to  discern  what 
possible  motives  to  betray  the  Republic  Pichegru  can 
have  had,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  resumed  the  command  of  the  army 
of  the  Rhine.  He  came  from  Paris,  where  he  had 
witnessed  the  scandalous  days  of  Prairial,  year  III. 
It  was  in  those  days  that  the  National  Convention 
was  besieged  and  for  a  time  dissolved  by  the  mob, 
who  loudly  demanded  bread  and  the  Constitution 
°f  '93>  while  it  was  abandoned  by  one-half  the 
population  of  Paris  to  the  insults  and  threats  of  the 
other  half.  During  the  whole  of  the  Revolution  there 
was  no  period  at  which  the  strength  and  the  presence 
of  Government  was  so  completely  withdrawn  for  a 
season,  and  when  it  was  so  difficult  to  foresee  what 
was  to  become  of  France.  The  gratuitous  assassina- 
tion of  Ferrand,  the  deputy  from  the  Hautes  Pyrenees, 
by  the  insurgents,  and  the  threats  of  general  pillage, 
aroused  the  Parisians  from  their  apathy.  They  set 
themselves   in   motion   to   defend,  not   the   Govern- 


206        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

ment,  but  their  shops  and  their  lives.  Pichegru  was 
then  appointed  commandant  of  the  Parisian  army  ; 
his  name  effectively  reinforced  the  party  of  the 
Convention  ;  the  insurrection  was  put  down,  and 
that  National  Convention  which  had  disappeared  at 
the  moment  of  danger,  its  voice  having  been  silenced 
at  last  by  the  threats  of  the  insurgents,  having 
gained  the  victory  by  chance  and  with  assistance  that 
was  not  accorded  with  either  the  zeal  or  the  esteem 
of  the  public,  resumed  its  functions.  The  first  act 
that  followed  the  victory  of  the  Convention  was  its 
sending  to  trial — which  meant  the  scaffold — twelve  of 
its  own  members,  who  all  stabbed  themselves  with 
the  same  weapon  before  the  tribunal  which  had  orders 
to  treat  them  as  the  authors  of  the  rebellion.  Thus 
ended  this  strange  insurrection  ;  its  real  ringleaders 
have  remained  unknown,  its  apparent  object  was  the 
revival  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  its  success  was  at  first 
complete,  but  it  led  to  no  result. 

Such  was  the  scene  that  Pichegru  had  witnessed 
on  returning  from  the  army  of  the  Rhine  ;  a  strange 
one,  which  implied  a  Government  absolutely  dis- 
credited, and  a  nation  wearied  and  disgusted  in  the 
extreme ;  very  shortly  afterwards  the  first  negotiations 
of  Pichegru  with  the  Prince  de  Conde  took  place. 
Efforts  have  been  made  at  sundry  times  to  cast  doubt 
and  uncertainty  upon  this  act  of  treason  ;  but  since 
those  who  were  the  Prince  de  Conde's  agents  in  the 
affair  have  published  the  account  of  it  in  the 
•'  Memoire  de  Montgaillard,"  since  persons  devoted 
to  Pichegru — being  employed  to  arrange  and  decipher 
documents  relating  to  that  negotiation — have  ac- 
knowledged that  they  burned  the  papers  by  which 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       207 

Pichegru  was  compromised,  and  since  the  general's 
subsequent  conduct  has  confirmed  the  previous 
discoveries  made  about  him,  it  is  totally  impossible 
to  justify  Pichegru.  We  may  still  wish  to  excuse 
his  intentions  and  his  views,  but  the  attempt  cannot 
serve  his  memory,  so  long  as  it  is  held  as  a  principle  of 
private  and  social  morality  that  a  breach  of  promised 
and  pledged  faith  cannot  be  justified  by  any  intention. 

The  relations  of  Pichegru  with  the  Prince  de  Conde 
were  early  suspected.  He  was  recalled  from  the 
army,  appointed  to  the  embassy  to  Sweden,  which 
he  refused,  and  lived  in  profound  retirement  at 
Arbois  with  his  family  until  his  nomination  to  the 
Legislative  body  in  year  V.  There  he  became  the 
head  of  a  party  which  desired  the  restoration  of 
Louis  XVIII. — or  at  least  behaved  as  if  that  were  its 
object — and  was  included  in  the  proscription  of  the 
18th  Fructidor,  year  V.;  a  proscription  which  was 
rendered  fatal  by  the  extreme  measures  that  resulted 
from  it,  and  the  part  taken  by  the  army  at  a  period 
when  Bonaparte  was  already  the  hero  of  the  day. 

Pichegru,  having  been  transported  to  Guiana,  made 
his  escape  with  seven  of  his  companions  in  misfortune, 
and  went  to  England,  where  he  resided  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  princes.  We  have  just  seen  what  were  the 
results  of  that  proceeding  ;  if  anything  can  lighten 
the  stain  upon  his  conduct  and  his  name,  it  is  un- 
doubtedly the  inflexible  firmness  of  his  conduct  when 
he  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French  police,  and  the 
tragic  and  mysterious  interest  of  his  death. 

Publicity  of  the  fullest  and  most  solemn  kind  was 
given  to  the  acts  of  the  tribunal.  But  if  that  pub- 
licity was  intended,  as  there  is   no  doubt  it  was,  to 


2o8         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

prevent  or  to  appease  the  popular  suspicions  and 
rumours  respecting  Pichegru's  end,  a  more  ill-judged 
and  ineffectual  precaution  never  was  taken. 

Everybody  in  Paris  talked  of  the  death  of  Pichegru, 
and  most  people  did  not  attempt  to  justify  their 
suspicions  by  any  special  reasons.  To  believe  that 
the  death  of  Pichegru  was  the  doing  of  the  Govern- 
ment, they  only  needed  to  remember  how  capable  of 
crime  the  latter  was,  and  to  recall  the  still  recent 
fate  of  the  Due  d'Enghicn. 

Others,  who  desired  to  make  their  suspicions 
appear  more  just  or  more  intelligent,  explained  them 
by  various  arguments.  The  greater  number  were 
agreed  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  man  to  strangle 
himself  in  the  manner  in  which  it  was  proclaimed 
that  Pichegru  had  committed  the  deed,  because  the 
strength  to  press  and  twist  a  stick  passed  into  the 
cravat  so  strongly  as  would  be  necessary  to  produce 
strangulation,  must  necessarily  fail  the  suicide  before 
the  fatal  point  had  been  reached.  This  was  the 
opinion  of  all  men  of  science.' 

Several  persons,  debating  the  matter  with  greater 
depth  and  subtlety,  found  motives  for  their  incredu- 
lity in  the  very  nature  of  the  measures  that  had  been 
taken  to  prevent  or  remove  it.  "  Since  when,"  they 
asked,  "  has  it  become  necessary  to  resort  to  so  much 
form  and  detail  to  prove  an  event  so  simple  as  a  sui- 

*  That  may  have  been  so  at  the  period  when  Fauriel  wrote, 
but  at  the  present  time  the  evidence  that  has  been  collected  in 
France,  and  also  in  foreign  countries,  is  so  conclusive  that  no 
doubt  can  be  entertained  of  the  possibility  of  a  suicide  effected 
as  that  of  Pichegru  was.  See,  among  others,  the  facts  narrated 
under  the  head  of  u  Strangulation  "  in  the  "  Dictionnaire  Ency- 
clopedique  des  Sciences  Medicales,"  vol.  xii.  p.  339. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        209 

cide  ? — and  since  when  is  it  competent  for  a  criminal 
tribunal  to  make  a  declaration  respecting  an  oc- 
currence which,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  would 
be  sufficiently  established  by  a  police  report  ?  How 
does  it  happen  that  the  judges  assemble  in  greater 
number  and  with  more  solemnity,  toordain  the  autopsy 
of  a  corpse,  than  to  try  a  living  man  accused  of  a 
capital  crime  ?  Why  do  not  those  judges,  since  their 
intention  and  purpose  was  to  verify  the  suicide  of 
Pichegru,  collect  the  only  kind  of  proof  admissible 
in  such  a  case,  that  supplied  by  the  depositions  of 
witnesses  taken  on  the  scene  of  the  event  ?  From 
whence  do  they  derive  the  impudence  or  the  folly 
that  enables  them  to  admit  the  declaration  of  a  phy- 
sician and  five  surgeons,  who,  being  called  in  to  view 
the  corpse  of  a  man,  declare  that  the  man  has  strangled 
himself?  Is  it  not  evident  that  such  a  statement  can 
only  be  made  by  corrupt,  or  wrung  from  timid  men  ? 
Is  it  not  still  more  clear  that  it  could  not  be  made 
the  grounds  of  a  judicial  decision  by  any  tribunal 
that  was  not  composed  of  incompetent,  corrupt,  or 
intimidated  judges  ?" 

Again,  there  were  others  who  called  to  mind  that 
reports  of  Pichegru's  death  had  been  circulated  a  fort- 
night previously — afterwards  he  was  said  to  be  ill ;  and 
persons  who  remembered  these  rumours  observed  that 
it  was  one  of  the  familiar  features  of  Bonaparte's  policy 
to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  events  which  he  pre- 
sumed would  impress  it  deeply  by  news  of  an  analo- 
gous or  somewhat  similar  kind,  so  as  to  blunt  the 
edge  of  the  popular  astonishment  beforehand. 

A  general,  if  erroneous,  view  of  the  matter,  taken 
by  those  who  laid  claim  to  a  knowledge  of  the  spirit 

P 


2 1  o         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

of  the  time,  and  the  ways  of  Bonaparte,  was  that 
Pichegru  had  been  made  away  with  in  order  to 
accelerate  the  progress  of  the  trial.  It  was  essential 
to  get  rid  of  a  troublesome  and  obstinate  man,  whose 
sturdy  and  persistant  denials  might  change  the  pre- 
assumed  course  of  the  discussion. 

Whatever  these  reasonings  and  suppositions  were 
worth,  they  were  to  be  heard  everywhere  ;  all  the 
police  reports  for  several  successive  days  were  full  of 
the  public  talk  concerning  the  "assassination,"  not 
the  suicide,  of  Pichegru. 

A  caricature6  was  privately  circulated,  in  which 
Pichegru  was  represented  lying  on  his  bed  with  a 
long  cravat  round  his  neck,  and  Regnier,  the  Grand 
Judge,  with  Real,  the  Director-General  of  Police, 
pulling  at  cither  end  of  it,  the  countenance  of  each 
being  distorted  as  hideously  as  was  that  of  the 
unhappy  victim  of  their  murderous  strength.  That 
so  horrible  an  incident  should  be  turned  into  ridicule 
in  such  a  way  is  sufficiently  significant  of  the  tone  of 
the  public  mind  at  the  moment. 

Bonaparte,  who  was  as  much  enraged  by  these 
suspicions  as  if  they  had  been  founded  upon  truth,  at 
last  lost  patience,  and  resolved  to  silence  them      On 

the  24th  Germinal  he  dictated  to  Murat  an  order  of 

1 

6  This  caricature  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  precious  collection 
of  historical  prints  bequeathed  to  the  National  Library  by 
M  Henin.  Caricatures  against  Bonaparte  and  his  Government, 
done  in  France,  or  rather,  in  Paris,  are  not  numerous.  To  that 
mentioned  by  Fauriel  we  may  add  one  to  which  Thibaudeau 
alludes,  and  which  was  privately  circulated  after  the  re-establish- 
ment of  public  worship.  The  First  Consul  was  represented 
drowning  himself  in  a  holy-water  font,  surrounded  by  bishops, 
who  pushed  him  down  with  their  crosiers.  "  Memoires  sur  le 
Consular.,"  p.  165. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         211 

the  day  which  will  remain  recorded  in  history  as 
one  of  the  most  curious  documents,  not  only  of  that 
epoch,  but  in  the  annals  of  arbitrary  power.  The 
following  is  the  substance  of  it : — '*'  The  Governor  of 
Paris  directs  the  adjutants,  officers,  and  sub-officers 
of  the  garrison  and  the  National  Guard,  whosoever 
they  may  be.  to  disabuse  the  minds  of  the  citizens 
respecting  the  false  rumours  for  which  malevolent 
persons  are  endeavouring  to  obtain  credence.  They 
do  not  hesitate  to  state  any  falsehood.  Now  they 
assert  that  the  death  of  Pichegru  is  not  the  result  of 
suicide  ;  again,  they  assert  that  each  night  a  great 
number  of  prisoners  are  shot.7  The  Criminal  Tribunal 
is  using  the  utmost  activity  in  the  procedure  under 
instruction.  The  arrests  which  have  taken  place 
since  that  of  Moreau  have  but  confirmed  his  culpa- 
bility more  strongly.  Up  to  the  present  moment 
all  that  the  Grand  Judge  has  said,  and  nothing  but 
what  the  Grand  Judge  has  said,  has  been  proved. 
Although  he  knows  that  anything,  more  or  less,  that 
may  be  advanced  will  make  no  impression  upon 
the  citizens,  the  Governor  of  Paris  thinks  it  well  to 
recommend  the  officers  and  sub-officers  of  the 
National  Guard  who  are  distributed  about  the  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  city,  not  to  allow  the  public  to 
be  misled.  The  adherence  of  all  classes  of  the  people 
is  an  essential  element  in  the  confidence  and  attach - 


7  This  rumour  was  not  without  some  foundation.  More  than 
a  month  previously,  on  the  18th  Ventose,  Bom  parte,  in  writing 
to  General  Davoust.  gave  him  the  news  of  Cadoudars  arrest  in 
a  postscript,  and  added,  "  The  barriers  are  closely  guarded  by 
sentinels  at  fifty  paces.  Some  brigands  presented  themselves,  and 
were  either  taken  or  shot."  '' Correspondance  de  Napoleon  I.," 
vol.  ix.  p.  351. 

P   2 


212         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

ment  which  the  First  Consul  has  a  right  to  expect 
from  the  French."8 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  Governments 
opposing  the  force  of  arms  to  that  of  opinion,  but 
it  was  reserved  for  Bonaparte  to  invoke  the  former 
against  the  latter  with  such  frankness  as  this.  The 
proclamation  produced  but  little  effect,  and  it  offended 
the  majority  of  the  Ministers.  Public  rumour  ceased, 
indeed,  to  deal  with  the  death  oi  Pichegru,  not  from 
the  fear  of  forcible  intervention,  but  because  public 
attention,  having  been  occupied  by  the  incident  for 
two  whole  weeks,  was  tired  of  it.  Very  likely  the 
subject  would  have  been  dropped  even  sooner,  but 
for  the  precautions  of  the  Government,  which  revived 
the  flagging  interest  it  had  excited. 

Popular  rumour  then  died  away  ;  but  it  was  suc- 
ceeded by  whispers  even  more  strange  than  those 
which  they  replaced,  and  these  whispers,  being  con- 
fined within  a  narrower  circle,  produced  a  deeper  and 
more  lasting  impression.  It  was  no  longer  vaguely 
presumed  that  Bonaparte  had  caused  Pichegru  to  be 
assassinated,  but  it  was  asserted  that  the  actual  agent 
of  the  assassination  had  been  discovered.  The 
person  named  was  Roustan,  one  of  his  Mamelukes, 
to  whom  Bonaparte  had  granted  a  reprieve  from 
capital  punishment  for  sedition  at  Cairo.  Ever  since 
that  time  Roustan  had  been  attached  to  his  personal 
service,  and  was  entirely  devoted  to  him.  Bonaparte 
appeared  to  place  great  reliance  upon  this  man's 
fidelity.     Soon  afterwards,  it  was  said  that  Roustan 

8  See  the  Journal  de  Paris  of  the  25th  Germinal,  year  XII., 
p.  1318.  This  order  of  the  day  was  not  inserted  in  the  Moni- 
tcur. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        213 

was  aided  in  his  task  by  two  other  Mamelukes,  and 
that  the  three  were  introduced  into  the  Temple,  and 
gained  access  to  Pichegru's  room  under  the  following 
circumstances  : — 

Pichegru  was  guarded  day  and  night  by  three 
gendarmes,  who  were  relieved  hour  by  hour.  It  was 
alleged  that  the  three  Mamelukes  got  into  his 
room  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  in  the  disguise 
of  gendarmes,  and,  throwing  themselves  upon  him 
simultaneously,  left  him  in  the  state  in  which  he  was 
found  on  the  following  morning. 

I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  these  rumours, 
although  I  am  persuaded  that  Pichegru  did  not 
strangle  himself  with  his  own  hands.9  Other  reports 
were  circulated,  which  were  much  more  unlikely,  and 
indeed,  to  my  thinking,  absurd.  It  was  said  that 
when  Pichegru's  body  was  examined  by  the  persons 
appointed,  a  note  in  the  handwriting  of  Bonaparte 
was  found  in  the  hair.  Different  versions  of  the 
contents  of  this  note  were  given.  Some  said  it  was 
an  invitation  to  Pichegru  to  come  to  Paris  ;  others, 
that  it  was  a  promise  of  pardon  or  favour  under 
condition  of  his  making  certain  avowals,  which  were 
required  from  him  to  complete  the  proofs  of  the 
conspiracy  in  which  he  had  dabbled.  I  need  not 
dwell  any  longer  on  these  rumours.  I  have  not 
recorded  them  here  as  being  worthy  of  any  credence, 
but  only  that  I  might  give  an  idea  of  the  opinion 
that  was  at  that  time  entertained  of  the  character  of 

9  So  widespread  was  the  belief  in  the  assassination  of  Piche- 
gru, that,  several  years  afterwards,  on  Madame  de  Remusat's 
asking  M.  de  Tallyrand  what  he  thought  of  "  that  death,"  he 
replied,  "  It  happened  very  suddenly,  and  in  the  nick  of  time.'' 
u  Memoires,"  vol.  i.  p.  349. 


214         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Bonaparte.  It  is  a  fact,  as  strange  as  it  is  certain, 
that  the  rumours  of  the  manner  in  which  Pichegru 
had  been  assassinated,  and  the  papers  found  on  his 
dead  body,  were  not  only  well  known,  but  held  to  be 
Well  founded  by  several  of  the  judges  who  took  such 
immense  pains  to  persuade  the  public  that  Pioegru 
had  killed  himself. 

The  judicial  instruction  in  Moreau's  case  was 
brought  to  a  conclusion  on  the  I  ith  Floreal,  and  had 
lasted  nearly  two  months.  This  was  not  too  long, 
considering  the  number  of  the  accused  and  the 
witnesses,  and  also  the  difficulty  of  securing  the 
success  of  the  prosecution  before  the  tribunal  and 
the  public.  The  whole  of  the  days  and  a  portion  of 
the  nights  were  devoted  to  this  instruction  by 
Thuriot,  who  gave  an  account  to  the  Director  General 
of  Police  of  the  stage  at  which  each  sitting  had  left 
the  affair,  of  the  advantages  that  he  had  gained,  and 
the  obstacles  that  he  had  encountered  ;  and  the 
measures  necessary  for  bringing  the  trial  to  the 
desired  point  were  discussed  with  the  Superior  Police, 
who  supplied  daily  all  the  fresh  information  which 
could  strengthen  the  hands  of  justice  in  dealing  with 
the  accused. 

On  the  i  ith  or  12th  Floroal,  Thuriot  placed  all  the 
documents  of  the  "instruction"  in  the  hands  of  the 
Govern ment  commissary,  who  was  to  draw  up  the 
act  of  accusation.  This  indictment  was  completed 
on  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  and  so  brief  an 
interval  being  allotted  to  so  onerous  and  difficult  a 
task,  one  in  which  it  was  necessary  to  say  nothing 
that  might  afford  an  insight  into  the  hopes  and  the 
action  of  the  authorities  in  the  matter,  would  seem  to 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        2 1 5 

prove  that  Bonaparte  was  impatient  for  the  termina 
tion  of  the  affair.     He  wanted,  in  fact,  to  be  left  in 
peace  to  enjoy  the  sweets  of   empire,    without   any 
trouble  or  care,  after  he  had  removed  the  last  thorn 
of  the  Republic  from  his  crown. 

The  act  of  accusation  was  published  almost 
simultaneously  with  the  Senatus-consultum  of  the 
28th  Floreal,  by  which  the  Republican  Government 
was  changed  into  an  hereditary  royalty. 

The  accused  had  only  six  or  eight  days  in  which 
to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  act  of 
accusation,  and  to  decide  upon  their  line  of  defence. 
Short  as  the  interval  was  for  them,  it  seemed  long 
to  the  impatient  public,  who  were  as  eager  to  witness 
the  struggle  of  the  accused  with  the  enmity  and  the 
might  of  the  Government,  as  if  there  had  been  the 
least  security  that  innocence  and  truth  would  come 
out  winners  in  the  end. 

At  length,  on  the  8th  Prairial,  the  proceedings  were 
opened,  and  the  accused,  to  the  number  of  forty-eight, 
assembled  on  those  same  benches  on  which  so  many 
unfortunate  men  and  women  had  sat  to  hear  the 
doom  of  death  pronounced  upon  them  in  the  time  of 
the  Revolution.  This  was,  I  believe,  the  largest 
number  of  accused  persons  that  had  ever  appeared 
before  a  tribunal  as  accomplices  in  the  same  enter- 
prise since  the  Revolution  ;  and  never,  perhaps,  did  a 
medley  of  men,  so  different  in  renown,  opinions,  and 
interests,  appear  before  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal 
itself.  The  conqueror  of  Hohenlinden  by  the  side  of 
the  most  obstinate  chief  of  the  insurgents  of  La 
Vendee,  agents  of  the  French  Government,  side  by 
side  with    confidants    of   the    emigre's    princes,  poor 


216        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

tavern-keepers,  and  women  of  the  lowest  ranks  of 
society,  mixed  up  with  men  who  had  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  strife  of  factions  and  in  civil  war  ; 
there  was  something  in  this  to  rouse  the  dullest 
imagination.  Other  recollections  of  the  same  epoch 
were  also  awakened.  At  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal 
a  jury  sat  by  the  side  of  judges  ;  on  this  occasion 
there  was  no  jury,  but  twice  as  many  judges  as  usual 
in  even  the  gravest  cases.  Judges  and  accused 
were  alike  in  the  presence  of  spectators  ;  but  with 
this  difference — the  first-comers  were  admitted  to 
the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  in  any  number  that 
the  space  could  hold.  Here,  one-half  the  spectators 
had  been  admitted  by  tickets  issued  by  the  police,  or 
by  the  principal  officers  of  the  court.  The  space 
apportioned  to  those  whose  only  claim  was  that  of 
first-comers  was  very  limited,  and  care  was  taken  to 
prevent  its  being  filled,  on  the  pretext  that  the  public 
must  not  be  inconvenienced,  while  soldiers  and  gen- 
darmes, the  former  disguised,  the  latter  employed 
openly,  and  police  spies,  each  adroitly  placed  for  the 
purpose,  watched  each  word,  gesture,  and  movement 
that  might  betray  the  secret  sentiments  of  the  spec- 
tators. The  same  differences,  the  same  contrasts, 
were  to  be  noticed  outside  the  court.  The  Revolu- 
tionary Tribunal  used  to  be  guarded  only  by  detach- 
ments of  the  National  Guard,  ill-armed  with  pikes  ; 
but  here  was  an  imposing  array  of  military.  Strong 
detachments  of  cavalry  and  infantry  were  placed  at 
all  the  avenues,  and  seemed  to  besiege  the  judqes 
as  well  as  the  prisoners.  By  the  irony  of  fate,  most 
of  the  soldiers  who  composed  these  detachments  were 
placed,  some  on  guard   over  a  general  who  had  led 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        2 1 7 

them  to  victory,  others  on  guard  over  those  same 
rebels  with  whom  they  had  been  confronted  during 
the  prolonged  struggle  of  the  civil  war  in  the  West. 

Now,  as  formerly,  detached  groups  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  court,  and  especially  in  front  of  the  principal 
entrance,  waited  with  silent  curiosity  until  news 
should  be  brought  to  them  of  what  was  going  on 
inside.  The  people  did  not  venture  to  express  their 
ideas  and  feelings,  their  presentiments  and  suspicions, 
and  were  afraid  even  to  appear  too  eager  to  learn 
what  they  were  burning  to  know,  dreading  above  all 
that  their  words  might  be  overheard  by  the  spies  who 
were  gliding  about  everywhere,  to  pick  up  every 
expression  or  murmur  of  discontent. 

Meanwhile  the  drama  was  proceeding.  The 
greater  number  of  the  prisoners  were  really  calm  ; 
they  all  appeared  so. 

After  each  of  the  accused  persons  had  stated  his 
name,  age,  and  quality,  according  to  the  prescribed 
rules,  the  clerk  of  the  court  began  to  read  the  act  of 
accusation  or  indictment.  The  reading  of  this  was 
important,  as  it  necessarily  indicated  the  disposition 
of  the  Government  which  had  prescribed  its  plan  and 
dictated  its  spirit. 

Gerard,  the  Public  Accuser,  began  by  a  succinct 
narrative  of  the  origin,  the  formation,  and  the  object 
of  the  present  conspiracy.  He  traced  it  back  to 
Pichegru's  negotiation  with  the  Prince  de  Conde  in 
year  IV.  (1795),  and  represented  the  whole  course  of 
the  general's  conduct,  from  the  moment  of  that 
negotiation  down  to  the  affair  of  the  18th 
Fructidor,  as  pursued  in  conformity  with  a  treason- 
able  plan   for   the   restoration   of  the   Bourbons  to 


2 1 3        The  Last  Days  of  the  Cons?i/ate. 

the  throne.  From  the  silence  maintained  by 
Moreau  for  four  months  upon  the  correspondence 
that  proved  Pichegru's  treason,  Gerard  drew  the 
conclusion  that  Moreau  was  guilty  towards  the 
Government,  and  he  made  that  silence  a  ground 
for  the  insinuation  that  Moreau  was  no  stranger  to 
the  treason  which  he  had  afterwards  denounced. 

He  then  reverted  toPichegru's  escape  from  Cayenne, 
dwelt  on  his  appearing  in  London  among  the  French 
princes,  and  the  British  Government,  as  the  soul  and 
the   arm    of  their   common    enterpri  mst   the 

Republic,  as  having  undertaken  to  carry  out,  in  the 
service  of  those  two  allies,  a  more  widespread  and 
ably-concerted  plot  against  the  French  Government 
than  any  of  those  which  had  hitherto  proved  abortive. 
This  plot  had  been  concocted  immediately  after  the 
Peace  of  Amiens. 

The  part  to  be  played  by  Pichegru  was  no  longer 
doubtful  ;  but  it  was  necessary  to  the  success  of  his 
designs  that  he  should  have  a  French  general,  popular 
both  in  the  army  and  among  the  people,  at  his  disposal. 
He  knew  Moreau's  character,  and  cast  his  eyes  upon 
him.  He  employed  David  to  negotiate  hs  reconcilia- 
tion with  Moreau  ;  David  undertook  to  do  this,  and 
succeeded.  He  was  arrested  at  Calais,  while  convey- 
ing favourable  assurances  from  Moreau  to  Pichegru 
in  England. 

At  this  stage  the  Public  Accuser  introduced  the 
infamous  Lajolais,  as  sent  directly  by  Pichegru  to 
Moreau  from  London  to  Paris1  to  replace  David,  and 

1  [Marg.  note  ]  "  He  is  represented  not  only  as  the  am- 
bassador of  Pichegru,  but  of  the  princes  and  the  British 
Cabinet." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        219 

assume  his  rote,  and  as  having  shortly  after  set  off 
for  London,  charged  with  a  decisive  and  favourable 
answer  from  Moreau. 

From  that  moment,  according  to  the  assertions  of 
the  Public  Accuser,  the  plan  was  concocted,  its  exe- 
cution was  fixed,  and  the  three  landings  which  took 
place  on  the  coast  at  Dieppe  were  represented  as 
the  immediate  and  direct  consequence  of  this  embassy 
of  Lajolais. 

Such  was  the  prelude,  and,  so  to  speak,  the  general 
sketch  of  the  act  of  accusation.  Perhaps  there  was 
not  among  the  spectators  a  single  individual  capable 
of  appreciating  the  extent  and  excess  of  impudence 
and  falsehood  that  pervaded  both  the  facts  alleged, 
and  the  deductions,  respecting  the  intentions  of  the 
accused,  drawn  from  them.  Any  one  who  knew  how 
little  pretext  for  such  assertions  could  possibly  be 
afforded  by  Moreau's  letters  ;  any  one  aware  that 
Lajolais  had  never  come  from  London  to  Paris  as  the 
envoy  of  Pichegrn,  but  had  been  sent  from  Paris  to 
London  in  order  to  bring  Pichegrn  to  the  former  city  ; 
any  one,  in  short,  who  was  capable  of  perceiving  how 
utterly  absurd  and  contiadictory  it  was  to  begin  by 
representing  Moreau  in  the  light  of  an  accomplice  of 
Pichegru's  first  treason,  and  to  proceed  by  supposing 
that  a  reconciliation  between  them  was  necessary  to 
enable  the  two  generals  to  understand  one  another, 
would  have  felt  a  well-founded  fear  of  the  fate  that 
was  prepared  for  the  accused.2     A  Government  which 

2  [Marg.  note.]  **  Never  did  any  historian,  having;  the  archives 
of  facts  at  his  disposal,  and  being  free  to  combine  them  without 
offending  antagonistic  passions  or  contending  interests,  arrange 
them  in  such  strict  sequence,  or  with  greater  pretension  to  cer- 


220        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

founded  such  an  accusation  0:1  such  audacious  lying 
was  certainly  resolved  beforehand  to  reap  all  the 
fruit  of  its  falsehood.  The  details  of  the  act  of  accu- 
sation did  but  form  the  development  of  this  general 
sketch,  subjected  to  divisions,  and  reduced  to  a 
formula  which  gave  it  the  appearance  befitting  a 
judicial  accusation. 

The  act  of  accusation  turned  upon  three  principal 
points.  The  first  was  the  establishment  beyond  a 
doubt  of  the  fact  that  a  conspiracy  had  been  formed 
against  the  life  of  the  Chief  Consul  and  against  the 
internal  and  external  safety  of  the  State.  The  second 
was  the  proving  that  the  animating  soul  of  that 
conspiiacy  was  the  English  Government.  The  third 
was  the  obligation  to  show  that  each  of  the  accused 
persons  then  before  the  tribunal  was  really  and 
truly  one  of  the  originators  of  the  conspiracy,  or  an 
accomplice  in  it,  or  had  been  guilty  of  breaking 
the  law  of  the  9th  Ventose,  which  had  been  passed 
to  secure  the  capture  of  the  conspirators  immediately 
upon  the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy. 

"  The  proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  conspiracy," 
said  the  Public  Accuser,  dealing  with  the  first  point, 
"  are  so  clear  that  it  is  impossible  they  can  fail  to 
carry  conviction  to  every  mind." 

These  proofs  were  the  avowals  of  the  accused — that 
is  to  say,  almost  all  those  who,  without  naming 
accomplices,  accusing,  or  compromising  anybody 
except  themselves,  had  acknowledged  that  they  had 
come  to  Paris,  not  precisely  to  overturn  the  consular 
Government  and  restore  the  throne  of  the  Bourbons, 

tainty,  than  the  fundamental  assertions  of  the  act  of  accusation 
displayed." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        2  2 1 

but  to  see  whether  the  means  of  effecting  such  an 
overthrow  and  such  a  restoration  existed,  and,  in  that 
case,  to  collect  and  organize  those  means.  The 
avowals  of  Georges  Cadoudal  and  Charles  de  Riviere 
only  were  such  as  to  entitle  them  to  be  fairly  and 
clearly  placed  in  this  category.  The  Polignacs,  not- 
withstanding their  reserve  and  equivocation  in 
speaking  of  some  among  the  accused,  had  plainly 
named  several. 

Those  persons  who  had  made  the  other  admissions 
had,  for  the  most  part,  yielded  to  torture  or  threats, 
and  the  nature  and  consequences  of  their  avowals 
compared  to  the  former,  sufficiently  indicated  the 
difference  of  the  intentions  and  feelings  that  actuated 
them.  By  the  former,  none  were  accused  but  those 
who  made  them  ;  and,  indeed,  only  their  intentions,  not 
their  actions,  were  accused  ;  the  latter  were  charges 
against  accomplices.  The  only  distinction  to  be 
drawn  was  between  those  persons  who,  yielding 
adroitly  and  prudently  to  the  threats  and  insinua- 
tions of  the  police,  acknowledged  that  they  had  co- 
operated in  the  projects  of  the  conspirators  without 
knowing  their  intentions ;  and  those  who,  when 
denouncing  the  others,  were  either  frightened  by 
threats  or  seduced  by  promises  into  reserving  no 
means  of  defence  to  themselves,  but  unreservedly 
declared  themselves  accomplices  of  the  conspirators 
both  in  fact  and  intention.  Among  the  former  are 
Rolland,  Couchery,  and  Lajolais,  so  far  as  his  position 
as  an  accused  person  is  concerned,  and  without 
regard  to  his  role  of  informer-in-chief.  Among  the 
others,  Bouvet  Lozier,  Rusillion,  Louis  Picot,  and 
Louis   Ducorps  hold  distinguished  places.     "  Who," 


222         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

asks  the  Public  Accuser,  winding  up  his  statement 
of  the  bearing  and  sense  of  these  avowals,  "  who  can 
doubt  the  fact  of  a  conspiracy  which  is  admitted 
by  those  very  persons  whose  interest  lies  in  contest- 
ing it?" 

After  having  insisted  upon  this  proof  of  the  exis- 
tence of  the  conspiracy,  drawn  from  the  avowals  of 
the  prisoners,  the  Public  Accuser  undertook  to  de- 
monstrate that  the  first  step  in  the  execution  of  the 
conspirators'  plan  must  be  the  assassination  of  the 
First  Consul  "This  is  a  point,"  said  he,  "upon 
which  common  sense  forbids  any  division  of  opi- 
nion." 

Nevertheless,  amply  evident  as  the  point  in  ques- 
tion appeared  to  him,  the  Public  Accuser  conde- 
scended to  adduce  a  proof  of  it;  that  proof  was 
the  already-related  declaration  of  the  four  police 
spies  employed  in  London,  on  which,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois  were  condemned. 
Deville  and  Roger,  who  were  also  compromised  by 
their  declarations,  were  among  the  accused  ;  hence 
the  evidence  of  the  connection  between  the  two 
conspiracies.  To  say  more  of  this  would  be  to  bring 
the  power  of  evidence  itself  into  doubt  and  discussion. 
Thus  ended  the  first  j  art  of  the  indictment. 

It  did  not  seem  at  all  more  difficult  to  prove 
that  the  English  Government  was  the  animating  spirit 
of  the  conspiracy.  The  real  or  supposed  influence 
of  the  English  Government  in  the  excesses  of  the 
French  Revolution  was  the,  first  proof  or  the  first 
presumption  furnished  in  favour  of  this  second 
fundamental  assertion.  The  English  Cabinet  was 
accused  of  having  arranged  the  attempt  of  the  3rd 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         223 

Nivose,  of  having  sent  Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois  to 
France.  The  proofs  of  its  influence  in  this  fresh 
conspiracy  were :  regular  payments  made  to  the 
conspirators  in  England,  the  furnishing  them  with 
arms  and  poniards,  gunpowder  and  gold,  and  their 
transport  to  France  in  vessels  under  the  orders 
of  the  Government.  Again,  there  were  the  instruc- 
tions given  to  Mehee,  the  assent  accorded  to  his  plans 
— in  a  word,  the  whole  of  the  singular  scheme  that 
I  have  already  narrated.  Of  this  the  Public  Accuser 
gave  a  detailed  account,  and  quoted  the  greater  part 
of  Mr.  Drake's  correspondence,  from  the  moment  at 
which  the  strange  mystification  was  attempted,  until 
it  was  rudely  dispelled. 

"What  candid-minded  person,"  he  asked,  "  can 
possibly  raise  a  doubt,  in  the  presence  of  documents 
so  plain  and  implicit,  that  the  British  Cabinet  is  the 
soul  of  the  conspiracy  ?  ".  .  .  "It  has  not  distributed 
poniards  to  assassinate  the  First  Consul,"  he  con- 
tinued, "only  because  it  feels  strongly  the  irresistible 
power  of  his  glory  and  his  virtues,  even  among 
foreign  nations." 

Having  reached  this  point  in  his  discourse,  the 
Public  Accuser  had  only  to  relate  the  facts  con- 
cerning each  of  the  accused  individually.  This 
was  the  most  important,  and  in  a  sense  the  most 
judicial,  portion  of  the  act  of  accusation  ;  it  demanded 
the  greatest  circumspection  and  adroitness,  because 
it  was  so  necessary  not  to  put  forward  too  strongly 
such  details  as  might  easily  be  shown  to  be  untrue  in 
the  progress  of  the  pleadings,  and  not  to  place  the 
accused  who  had  turned  informers  in  too  anta- 
gonistic an  attitude  towards  the  accused  who  were 


224         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

predestined  victims ;  nevertheless,  this  portion  of 
the  accusation  was  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  for 
lying-,  equally  impudent  and  clumsy. 

It  divided  the  conspirators  into  three  classes: — 

1.  Conspirators  properly  so  called. 

2.  Their  auxiliaries  and  accomplices. 

3.  Those  who  had  neglected  to  make  the  declara- 
tion prescribed  by  the  law  of  the  9U1  Ventose  to  all 
persons  who  might  have  given  lodging  to  any  of  the 
conspirators.3 

In  dealing  with  each  of  the  accused  comprised  in 
either  one  or  other  of  these  three  classes,  especially 
the  first,  the  Public  Accuser  heaped  together,  without 
selection  or  order,  all  the  facts  that  he  had  been  able 
to  collect,  whether  they  related  to  the  conspiracy  or 
not.  By  the  tone  of  each  clause  in  the  indictment, 
it  was  possible,  and  even  easy,  to  discern  who  were  the 
accused  that  had  made  avowals,  who  had  respectively 
obtained  a  promise  of  pardon  as  the  price  of  their 
surrender,  or  resisted  both  and  the  tortures  inflicted 
by  the  police  as  well. 

When  the  facts  to  be  stated  concerned  the  latter, 
they  were  seasoned  with  abusive  declamation  and 
gross  insults. 

When  the  turn  of  those  who  had  confessed 
came,  although  the  expressions  of  the  act  of  accusa- 
tion were  severe  and  menacing,  some  little  phrase 
would  be  allowed  to  escape,  as  if  by  accident,  which 
indicated  the  kind  of  excuse  that  the  accused  might 


»  [Marg.  note.]  "  It  must  be  pointed  out  that  this  law  was 
absurd,  because  none  of  the  confederates  were  either  named  or 
designated  by  it.  It  should  have  come  after  the  ■  List '  of  the 
16th." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        225 

claim,  and  the  motives  for  indulgence  that  spoke 
in  his  favour.  There  was  hardly  an  exception  made 
for  Lajolais.  Prudence  forbade  it ;  the  closer  his 
relations  with  the  police  had  been,  the  more  severe 
and  crushing  the  language  addressed  to  him  by 
justice  was  bound  to  be. 

The  clause  relating  to  Moreau  was  the  most 
laboured  of  all,  and  almost  as  violent  as  that  which 
dealt  with  Georges  Cadoudal.  As  for  Pichegru,  he 
was  only  mentioned,  so  to  speak,  incidentally,  in  this 
list  of  criminals.  He  was  described  as  an  infamous 
man,  "who,  as  if  crime  sometimes  administered  justice 
to  itself,  beholding  only  the  picture  of  his  treason 
and  the  overwhelming  proofs  of  his  misdeeds,"  had 
killed  himself  in  the  Temple.  This  sentence,  which 
was  neither  the  most  violent  nor  the  most  absurd  in 
the  long  judicial  diatribe,  may  give  an  idea  of  the 
moderation,  the  calm,  the  style  of  eloquence,  and  the 
veracity  of  its  author. 

The  reading  of  the  indictment  lasted  nearly  five 
hours,  and  occupied  almost  the  whole  of  the  first 
sitting.  On  the  following  day  the  court  was  seated 
and  the  hearing  began  at  nine  o'clock  a.m.  The 
proceedings  opened  with  a  formal  protest  against 
the  competency  of  the  tribunal,  or  their  acceptance 
of  it,  on  the  part  of  the  accused,  and  to  this  act  of 
the  drama  a  particular  circumstance  lent  special 
interest. 

The  "  instruction  "  of  the  case  had  been  carried  out 
entirely  under  the  denomination  of  "  Special  Criminal 
Tribunal."  The  act  of  accusation  had  been  drawn  up 
by  the  Government  officer  who  belonged  to  that  form 
of  tribunal.     This  document  had  been  signed  on  the 

Q 


226         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

25th  Floreal,  and  three  days  afterwards  a  Senatus- 
consultum  had  appeared,  by  which  not  only  the  form 
of  Government  was  changed,  but  also  that  of  the 
tribunals,  and  cognizance  of  offences  against  the 
safety  of  the  Government  was  vested  in  a  High 
National  Court  composed  of  functionaries  selected 
from  the  chief  dignities  of  the  State. 

Gauthier,  who  acted  as  counsel  for  Coster  Saint- 
Victor,  was  the  first  to  demand  the  right  of  plea  of 
exception  {dedinatoire),  and  he  made  a  long  speech 
in  support  of  its  justice.  He  endeavoured  to  bring  for- 
ward the  principle  that  any  matter  which  has  to  be 
decided  by  a  tribunal  always  belongs  to  a  tribunal 
actually  established  by  law.  He  dwelt  upon  the 
contradiction  that  would  exist  if  the  tribunal  were  to 
admit  some  of  the  dispositions  made  by  the  Scnatus- 
consultum  of  the  28th,  by  taking  the  title  allotted 
to  it  by  that  Senatus-consultum,  and  to  reject  the 
others  ;  and  also  upon  the  fact — which  though  not 
legally  proved  by  the  defence,  was  not  denied  by  the 
Imperial  Procurator — that  the  act  of  accusation  had 
not  been  signified  to  the  accused  until  after  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  decree  of  the  28th  Floreal. 

Georges  Cadoudal,  Charles  de  Riviere,  Joyant,  and 
nineteen  others,  among  whom,  to  the  general  surprise, 
was  Lajolais,  also  demanded,  through  their  counsel, 
to  be  brought  before  the  high  imperial  court,  for  the 
reasons  aforesaid. 

Moreau  and  the  other  accused  persons  stated  that 
they  preferred  to  refer  the  question  of  competence  to 
the  judgment  of  the  tribunal. 

The  demand  for  a  plea  of  exception  was  founded 
upon  reasons  which  appeared  just  to  most  people,  and 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       227 

which  were  by  no  means  easy  for  the  judges  tc 
refute.  But  it  was  evident  that  it  was  perfectly 
useless  to  put  forward  any  such  pleas.  The  tribunal 
might  be  reduced  to  proving  its  own  competency  by 
sheer  sophistry,  but  it  was  not  free  to  repudiate  that 
quality  when  the  supreme  influence  that  directed  had 
chosen  it.  Thus  the  accused  persons  who  put  forward 
the  declinatory  plea,  did  so  only  in  order  to  assert 
their  rights,  and  leave  no  resource  untried  ;  but  not  in 
the  hope  of  getting  their  demand  heard,  and  being 
handed  over  to  other  judges  The  tribunal  declared 
its  own  competence  by  a  judgment  whose  terms  were 
more  than  equivocal,  but  which  produced  very  little 
sensation,  because  it  was  quite  evident  that  there 
could  be  no  chance  of  a  change  favourable  to  the 
accused,  since  any  judges  before  whom  they  might 
be  sent  would  inevitably  be  selected  by  the  ruling 
authority. 

This  preliminary  disposed  of,  the  trial  began. 
Georges  was  put  forward  first,  a  preference  easily 
accounted  for.  Thirty-six  witnesses  had  been  ordered 
by  the  President  to  attend.  The  first  twelve  who  were 
heard  deposed  to  all  the  circumstances  of  his  arrest, 
to  the  murder  of  one  of  the  police  agents  who  arrested 
him,  and  the  wounding  of  the  other.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  the  examination  of  each  witness,  the 
President,  turning  to  Georges,  questioned  him  in  his 
turn,  invariably  beginning  with  the  circumstances  of 
his  arrest,  and  ending  with  the  gist  of  the  conspiracy. 
To  all  these  questions  Georges  replied  with  the  calm- 
ness, composure,  and  presence  of  mind  of  an  abso- 
lutely indifferent  person,  steadily  denying  in  the  most 
decided  and  positive  tone  everything  that  could  com- 

Q  2 


228         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

promise  any  one  whomsoever,  and  repeating  what 
he  had  already  acknowledged,  viz.  that  he  had  come 
to  France  to  see  whether  there  was  any  means  of 
restoring  the  monarchy  in  favour  of  the  Bourbons  ; 
that  he  had  not  yet  collected  those  means,  or  laid 
down  any  plan ;  that  he  had  not  been  ready  to  act,  and 
did  not  even  know  whether  circumstances  would  have 
required  or  permitted  him  to  do  so.  Each  time  that 
the  President  angrily  reiterated  his  questions  in  the 
tone  of  one  who  hopes  to  conquer  obstinate  silence 
by  rude  importunity — and  this  he  did  frequently — 
Georges  simply  repeated  his  denials  with  the  same 
patient  and  unruffled  calmness.4 

A  great  deal  was  said  about  his  complicity  in  the 
plot  of  the  3rd  Nivose.  The  only  proof  that  was 
offered  was  a  note  couched  in  vague  and  mysterious 
terms,  but  which  might  possibly  be  interpreted  as  an 
order  or  an  intimation  relative  to  that  occasion.  He 
denied  having  written  this  note,  offered  to  prove  by 
witnesses  who  were  in  the  hands  of  the  police  that  at  the 
date  which  it  bore  he  was  at  the  distance  of  1 30  leagues 
from  Paris,  that  the  note  must  have  reached  Saint- 
Rdjant5  in   four  days,  although  it  was  said  to  have 

*  [Marg.  note.]  "  He  renewed  his  profession  of  loyalty  and 
fidelity  to  royalism." 

3  Pierre  Robinaut  Saint-Rejant  (or  Saint- Regent),  who  con- 
cealed himself  under  the  various  names  of  Pierrot,  Sever,  Sollier, 
Pierre  Martin,  was  executed,  with  his  accomplice  Carbon,  on  the 
1st  Floreal,  year  IX..  as  the  author  of  the  attempt  of  the  3rd 
Nivose.  Now,  the  following  is  the  text  of  the  note  found  at  his 
abode  :  "  My  dear  Soyer,  I  have  news  of  you  from  two  friends. 
As  for  you,  you  have  not  yet  learned  to  write.  Alas  !  the  fifteen 
days  are  passed  ;  events  announce  themselves  in  a  frightful 
manner ;  if  these  events  continue,  I  know  not  what  will  become 
of  us  all.  In  you  alone  is  all  our  confidence  and  all  our  hope. 
Your  friends  beg  your  remembrance  of  them,  and  recommend 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        229 

been  addressed  by  a  man  hiding-  in  a  village  in  Brit- 
tany to  a  man  hiding  in  the  capital.  He  accused  the 
police  of  having  fabricated  this  note,  and  the  only 
result  of  the  President's  importunate  insistance  on  the 
point  was  that  the  very  common  belief  that  Georges 
really  was  the  instigator  and  head  of  the  affair  of 
Nivose  was  considerably  shaken.  The  objection  was 
raised  that  he  had  acknowledged  to  the  police  having 
sent  Saint-Rejant  to  Paris,  if  not  to  carry  out  the 
plot  of  the  3rd  Nivose,  at  least  to  attack  the  First 
Consul ;  but  this  proved  to  be  a  greater  indiscretion 
than  the  previous  one.  It  gave  Georges  an  opportu- 
nity of  making  known  that  he  had  been  tortured,  that 
the  police  had  endeavoured  to  terrify  him,  that  he  had 
been  made  to  sign  declarations  which  he  had  not 
previously  read,  and  that  no  questions  had  been  put 
to  him  before  the  "  instructing  "  judges  of  a  nature  to 
enable  him  to  correct  the  wording  of  that  first  declara- 
tion.6   He  denied  that  he  had  sent  Leridan  to  Brittany 

their  fate  to  you.  Adieu.  Your  sincere  friend,  Gedeon.  29th 
December,  1800." 

M.  Thiers  states  that  under  Saint-Rejant's  bed  there  was 
found  "a  letter  to  Georges,  in  which  he  related  (with  some 
disguise)  the  principal  circumstances  of  the  crime,  and  justified 
himself  to  his  chief  for  his  non-success."  This  letter  was  en- 
closed in  an  envelope,  and  addressed  "Au  Citoyen  Antoine, 
Chef  d'un  Bureau  de  Finance,  a  Paris,"  and  began  with  the 
sentence,  "  My  dear  friend,  I  declare  to  you  that  I  have  decided 
not  to  quit  this  country."  It  was  submitted  to  two  experts, 
Oudart  and  Legros,  who  pronounced  it  to  have  been  written 
neither  by  Limoelan,  nor  Saint-Rejant.  This  Limoelan,  who 
was  called  Beaumont  and  Pour  le  A'of,  was  said  to  be  one  of  the 
accomplices  in  the  attempt  of  the  3rd  Nivose.  He  managed  to 
escape  from  Paris,  and,  according  to  a  report  made  by  General 
Moncey,  he  appears  to  have  shot  himself  at  Lageneux  (Ain),  on 
the  24th  Nivose,  year  XII.  See  \X\q  Journal  de  Paris  of  25th 
Germinal,  year  XII.,  p.  1250. 

6  Louis  Bonaparte  had  the  curiosity  to  go  and  see  Georges 


230         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

with  300  louisfor  Saint-IIilaire.  The  examination  of 
Georges  and  the  witnesses  lasted  three  hours,  and  the 
proceedings  were  resumed  after  a  short  interval  by  the 
President's  interrogation  of  Bouvet  Lozier  concerning 
the  persons  who  had  inhabited  the  house  let  by  him 
at  Chaillot.  At  this  point  a  difficulty  arose,  which 
had  not  been  sufficiently  foreseen  and  provided  against 
by  those  who  had  got  up  the  trial  and  settled  the  plan 
of  it,  and  which  caused  in  the  end  a  partial  failure  of 
their  project.  Several  of  the  confederates  who  had 
told  the  police  all  they  knew,  and  sometimes  more 
than  they  knew,  and  who  had  adhered  to  their  state- 
ments in  the  silence,  solitude,  snares,  and  threats  amid 
which  the  proceedings  had  been  "  instructed  "  at  the 
Temple,  had  by  no  means  so  much  assurance  and 
audacity  when  they  found  themselves  in  the  presence 
of  the  public,  their  victims,  and  their  judges.  Bouvet 
hesitated  about  naming  Georges,  Pichegru,  Poiignac 
(Armand),  and  other  accomplices  as  having  lived  in 
the  house  at  Chaillot.  The  same  admissions  which 
had  been  wrung  from  him  in  the  first  instance  by 
dreadful  tortures,  had  from  the  beginning  of  his 
examination  to  be  extracted  by  severe  moral  pressure. 
It  was  much  worse  when  Madame  de  Saint- Leger,  with 
whom  he  had  been  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship 
and  confidence,  was  called  as  a  witness  on  his  behalf. 
Madame  de  Saint-L^ger  had  hired  the  house  for 
him,  and  knowing  well  for  whom  it  was  really 
intended,    she    nevertheless    courageously   persisted 


at  the  Temple.  He  went  accompanied  by  a  brilliant  staff,  and 
found  the  prisoner,  as  Bourrienne  tells  us,  "lying  on  his  bed, 
his  hands  pressed  on  his  chest,  and  closely  linked  by  hand- 
cuffs.'' 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        23 1 

in  denying  that  it  had  been  hired  for  any  other 
person  or  persons  except  Bouvet,  or  that  it  had  been 
inhabited  by  any  others,  to  her  knowledge.  When 
the  President,  desirous  to  obtain  by  any  means  from 
Madame  de  Saint-Leger  the  confession  that  she  knew 
who  the  persons  were  that  had  lived  in  the  house  at 
Chaillot,  met  her  denials  with  appeals  to  declarations 
which  she  had  been  forced,  by  threats  and  violence, 
to  sign,  but  had  not  made,  and  asked  her  whether  it 
was  not  the  presence  of  Bouvet  Lozier  that  prevented 
her  from  speaking  and  acknowledging  the  truth,  she 
replied,  "  I  do  not  know  whether  Bouvet  Lozier  is 
here  ;  I  no  longer  recognize  him."7  This  answer  was 
at  once  the  accusation,  the  judgment,  and  the  con- 
demnation of  Lozier  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion.  It 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  spectators  ;  and 
perhaps  that  voice  of  a  woman,  who,  threatened  and 
tortured  almost  as  mercilessly  as  he  had  been,  had 
nevertheless  steadily  refused  to  make  the  avowals 
that  were  required  from  her,  awakened  some  shame 
and  remorse  in  Bouvet's  breast.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
when  the  President  asked  him  whether  he  still  persisted 
in  his  strange  declaration  of  the  24th  Pluviose,  he 
modified  it  in  a  manner  which  completely  annulled  it. 
He  declared  that  when  he  had  made  his  first  declara- 
tion, he  believed  Moreau  to  have  given  his  adhesion 
to  the  plan  of  conspiracy  on  behalf  of  the  princes,  but 
that  since  then  he  had  found,  on  reading  the  documents 
of  the  trial,  that  supposition  was  proved  to  be  false. 


7  The  shorthand  report  makes  her  say,  (l  I  do  not  know 
■whether  he  is  here,  I  do  not  see  him."  The  sense  is  the  same, 
for  a  moment  before,  the  President,  while  questioning  Madame 
de  Saint-Leger,  had  bidden  Bouvet  Lozier  be  silent. 


232         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

His  declaration  of  the  24th  was  again  read  to  him, 
and  to  each  assertion  he  replied  that  it  was  from 
Georges  he  had  learned  the  fact  stated.  Every  such 
statement  Georges  met  with  a  positive  denial,  uttered 
in  a  tone  of  such  calmness  and  politeness  as  were 
truly  remarkable  towards  a  man  who  had  acted  the 
part  of  which  Bouvet  stood  convicted. 

In  the  course  of  his  reading  of  the  declaration,  the 
President  came  to  one  of  the  most  important  pas- 
sages : — 

"  A  general  who  has  served  under  Moreau,  Lajolais, 
I  believe,  is  sent  by  him  to  the  princes  in  London. 
Lajolais  agrees  in  Moreau's  name,  and  on  his  behalf, 
to  the  principal  parts  of  the  proposed  plan."  Here 
the  President  paused,  to  ask  Bouvet  who  it  was  that 
had  spoken  to  him  of  Lajolais.  "  Georges,"  replied 
Bouvet  immediately,  just  as  he  had  replied  to  all  the 
preceding  questions  concerning  this  same  declaration, 
and  Lajolais  was  then  summoned  to  answer  upon  the 
point.  The  President  could  not  presume  that  there 
would  be  any  objection  to  his  addressing  such  a 
question  to  a  man  in  the  position  of  Lajolais.  He 
was  mistaken.  The  shame  that  had  seized  upon 
Bouvet,  and  was  as  perceptible  in  his  mien  as  in 
his  answers,  had,  so  to  speak,  become  contagious, 
and  had  even  touched  Lajolais,  for  he  replied 
to  the  President  that  he  had  never  had  any  com- 
mission on  behalf  of  Moreau,  nor  communication  of 
any  kind  of  plan. 

When  they  came  to  that  part  of  the  declaration  at 
which  the  rendezvous  on  the  Boulevard  de  la  Made- 
leine between  Pichegru  and  Georges  on  the  one  part, 
and  Moreau  on  the  other,  was  set  forth  in  such  a 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,       233 

way  as  to  allow  it  to  be  believed  that  the  proposed 
meeting  had  really  taken  place,  Bouvet  rectified 
all  that  was  false  or  equivocating  in  the  statement, 
and  said  that  he  had  not  seen  Moreau  on  the  boule- 
vard. 

Thus  did  the  nets,  which  the  police  thought  they 
had  made  so  strong  and  so  secure,  break  with  the 
very  first  strain  upon  them  ;  thus  were  the  cruelty 
and  perfidy  of  the  police  towards  the  accused,  and 
the  secret  object  of  this  scandalous  procedure,  un- 
masked in  a  totally  unforeseen  manner. 

The  foregoing  were  the  chief  incidents  of  the 
first  part  of  the  trial.  Other  witnesses  were  then 
heard,  and  other  prisoners  examined ;  namely, 
Rusillion,  Rochelle,  Armand  Polignac,  and  his  brother 
Jules. 

Rusillion  persisted  in  his  plan  of  absolute  submis- 
sion to  the  police,  and  made  no  attempt  to  escape 
from  the  infamy  of  his  first  declaration  by  any  state- 
ment. His  examination  lasted  only  a  few  minutes. 
It  was  perfectly  plain  that  he  had  been  promised  his 
own  life  on  condition  of  the  good-will  with  which  he 
should  help  to  furnish  means  for  depriving  other 
persons  of  theirs. 

Rochelle  was  questioned  at  greater  length,  and  the 
confirmation  of  his  former  statements  had  to  be  got 
at  through  half-retractations,  and  by  dint  of  much 
pressing  ;  but  nothing  remarkable  was  elicited  ;  the 
part  he  had  to  play  was  only  a  relatively  useful 
one. 

The  examination  of  Armand  Polignac  was  more 
interesting,  because  his  declarations  were  more  grave 
in  themselves,  and  also  because  his  rank  among  the 


234         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

partisans  of  the  French  princes  gave  him  a  highef 
degree  of  importance.  He  retracted  the  statement  in 
his  first  examination  that  he  had  come  over  from 
England  to  France  with  seven  persons,  of  whom  two, 
Coster  Saint-Victor  and  Deville,  were  now  accused  ; 
he  confirmed  his  former  statement  that  he  had  come 
to  France  with  the  vague  purpose  of  verifying  what 
means  there  might  exist  of  restoring  the  monarch)'. 
He  explained  that  the  very  serious  interview  which 
he  knew  to  have  taken  place  at  Chaillot  between 
Morcau,  Pichegru,  and  Georges,  was  only  hearsay, 
and  that  he  could  not  vouch  for  the  fact.  He  ex- 
plained in  the  same  way  all  his  statements  con- 
cerning the  relations  between  Moreau  and  Pichegru. 
What  he  could  not  put  down  as  having  come  to  him 
through  public  rumour,  he  declared  he  had  had  from 
Pichegru. 

Thus  the  death  of  that  unfortunate  general  was  not 
only  useful  to  the  judges  and  the  police,  but  it  also 
furnished  a  refuge  and  a  resource  to  those  among  the 
accused  who,  not  daring  to  retract  the  avowals  they 
had  made  to  the  police,  or  to  confirm  them  in  the 
face  of  accomplices  who  might  justly  reproach  them 
with  base  treachery,  conveniently  cast  accusations 
upon  a  man  who  had  nothing  more  to  fear  either 
from  the  police  or  from  human  justice.  This  was 
a  kind  of  expedient  to  which  several  of  the  accused 
had  resorted  in  the  course  of  the  famous  trial,  in  so 
far  as  the  small  number  of  accomplices  who  were 
executed  before  the  judgment  was  delivered,  permitted. 
There  were  only  two.3 

The  impression  left  upon  the  minds  of  the 
8  Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,         235 

spectators  by  this  sitting,  and  the  only  one  which 
spread  itself  abroad,  was,  while  not  as  yet  very  deep 
or  decided,  distinctly  adverse  to  the  views  and 
hopes  of  the  Government.  From  that  stage  of  the 
proceedings,  public  opinion  was  sensibly  altered 
with  regard  to  Georges  Cadoudal.  The  nation 
shrank  with  pain  and  repugnance  from  regarding 
as  a  brigand  this  man,  who  from  the  hour  of 
his  arrest  had  adopted  a  consistent  course,  which 
he  followed  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life;  who 
had  acknowledged,  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  just 
so  much  of  his  own  conduct  as  it  was  necessary 
to  avow  in  order  to  authorize  those  into  whose 
hands  he  had  fallen  to  put  him  to  death  with 
judicial  honours  ;  who  had  guarded  with  constant 
and  scrupulous  care  against  compromising  any 
persons  by  his  answers,  even  those  whom  he  might 
have  named  without  adding  anything  to  their  peril ; 
who  made  all  honest  men  feel,  by  his  very  reserve, 
which  he  well  knew  would  not  be  taken  into  account 
on  his  behalf,  what  treachery  and  base  deceit  the 
Consular  Government  had  employed  against  him. 
People  began  to  feel  a  reasonable  surprise  that  men 
who  had  made  avowals  at  the  cost  of  infamy  should 
retract  them  at  the  risk  of  life.  It  was  easy  to  draw 
the  conclusion  that  confessions  which  were  retracted  at 
the  latter  price  could  only  have  been  extracted  by 
subornation  and  torture.  The  public  mind  was  finally 
made  up  on  this  point  by  the  facts  which  came  out 
on  the  trial  in  reference  to  the  cruelties  that  had  been 
practised  upon  both  accused  andwitnessesbythe  police, 
and  the  impudent  falsification  of  the  declarations  of 
both.     In  short,  the  police  and  the  Government   had 


236         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

no  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  this  first  result  of  their 
manoeuvres ;  nor  were  they  at  all  satisfied.  From 
that  moment,  nothing  but  the  trial  was  talked  of  in 
Paris.  It  formed  the  subject  of  conversation  in  every 
place,  among  all  classes  ;  and  it  was  discussed,  not 
only  with  eager  curiosity,  but  with  a  seriousness 
which  had  long  been  a  lost  habit.  The  period  of  this 
trial  is  perhaps  the  only  period  since  the  iSth 
Brumaire  to  which  no  recollection  of  the  puns,  jests, 
and  coarse  sayings  that  are  the  sole  vengeance  of  a 
cowardly  and  servile  multitude  against  tyrannical 
power,  is  attached. 

The  proceedings  of  the  following  day,  the  10th 
Prairial,  promised  to  be  more  interesting  than  those 
of  the  preceding. 

On  this  occasion  the  first  to  be  examined  was 
Charles  d'Hozier,  one  of  the  conspirators  who  lived 
at  Paris,  and  had  been,  according  to  all  appearances, 
specially  entrusted  with  the  care  of  procuring 
lodging  for  those  who  came  directly  from  England. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Charles  d'Hozier  had 
acknowledged  not  only  to  the  police,  but  also 
before  the  instructing  judge,  all  the  services  that  he 
had  rendered  to  several  of  the  conspirators,  always, 
however,  observing  the  precaution  (necessary  for 
his  defence)  of  declaring  that  he  knew  nothing 
of  their  intentions  and  plans.  In  the  course  of  his 
examination  by  the  President,  nothing  was  more 
clearly  demonstrated  than  the  untruth  of  several 
charges  made  against  him  in  the  act  of  accusation, 
his  protests  against  the  dishonesty  with  which  the 
police  had  drawn  up  their  report  of  his  answers,  and 
his  desire  to  withdraw  certain  admissions  damaging  to 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        2 


0/ 


those  individuals  whom  he  now  declared  he  had 
named  without  knowing  them.  Charles  d'Hozier 
was  also  the  first  who  stated  openly  before  the 
spectators  that  torture  had  been  inflicted  upon  the 
accused.9 

This  was  singular  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  man 
who  had  hidden  from  the  police  nothing  that  it  was 
in  his  power  to  impart  to  them,  and  was  even  sus- 
pected of  having  had  an  understanding  with  them 
prior  to  his  arrest. 

Among  the  many  incidents  of  the  trial  which 
give  an  idea  of  the  way  in  which  the  President 
questioned  the  accused,  and  of  how  little  pains  he 
took  to  disguise  the  foregone  resolution  to  find 
them  guilty,  there  is  one  concerning  Charles 
d'Hozier  which  I  consider  worth  noticing,  especially 
as  I  think  it  almost  escaped  observation  at  the 
time. 

One  of  the  points  in  the  special  accusation  against 
D'Hozier  was  that  not  only  had  he  procured  lodging 
for  several  of  the  conspirators,  but  he  had  set  up  an 
establishment  of  public  vehicles,  no  doubt  with  the 
primary  purpose,  said  the  indictment,  of  facilitating 
transport  and  communications  for  the  enemies  of 
France ! 

It  was  abundantly  proved  in  the  course  of  the  trial 
that  the  establishment  in  question,  which  had  been 
opened  two  years  before  the  date  of  the  alleged 
conspiracy,  was   neither  more  nor  less  than  a  private 

9  "I  observe,"  said  D'Hozier,  "that  Picot  again  alleged  in 
prison  that  he  had  told  many  things  which  he  did  not  know, 
because  he  had  been  tortured  at  the  Prefecture  of  Police."  See 
"  Proces,"  vol.  iv.  pp.  238,  239. 


2  33         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

enterprise,  undertaken  with  the  same  motives  and 
conducted  in  the  same  way  as  every  other  business  of 
a  similar  kind.  The  President,  unwilling  to  admit 
that  he  was  beaten  by  the  evidence  which  established 
this  fact  all  the  more  strongly  that  the  witnesses  were 
witnesses  for  the  prosecution,  and  called  by  himself, 
turned  to  D'Hozier  and  said:  "You  might  have  a 
double  object  in  setting  up  your  establishment  of 
vehicles,  and  availing  yourself  of  it  until  the  arrival 
of  those  who  were  to  come  from  England."  "  In  that 
case  I  evinced  a  great  deal  of  foresight,"  replied 
D'Hozier,  with  as  little  irony  as  it  was  possible  to 
employ  in  answer  to  such  a  remark.1 

The  proceedings  with  regard  to  Charles  de  Riviere* 
occupied  less  time,  but  were  still  more  remarkable. 

There  was  great  curiosity  to  see  how  this  man 
would  sustain  his  role  of  intelligent,  intrepid,  polished, 
highly-bred  royalist,  and  favourite  of  the  Count 
d'Artois,  in  the  presence  of  the  judges  and  the  public. 
He  persisted  in  refusing  to  make  any  kind  of  decla- 
ration or  answer  that  could  compromise  anybody 
whomsoever  among  the  accused,  and  in  repeating 
what  he  had  stated  at  his  first  examination — that  he 
had  come  to  France  to  ascertain  whether  the  public 
mind  was  favourable  to  the  princes,  and  in  that  case  to 
induce  them  to  profit  by  the  opportunity.  But,  either 
because  he  was  emboldened  by  the  public  sentiment  in 
favour  of  the  accused,  which  became  more  and  more 
marked,  or  because  he  thought  and  desired  only  to 
defend  himself — or,  again,  because  he  was  inspired 
by  a  desire  to  tell  the  truth,  he  was  the  first 
among  the  accused  who  impressed  their  hearers  with 
1  See  "  Proces,"  vol.  iv.  p.  253.  3  See  Ibid.  p.  259. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       239 

the  strangeness  of  the  destiny  that  had  brought  these 
men  before  a  tribunal,  for  an  attempt  to  re-establish 
monarchy,  at  the  very  moment  when  that  monarchy 
had  just  been  re-established,  and  had  brought  them 
there  by  the  hand  of  the  man  in  whose  person  it  was 
re-established.  They  were  accused  of  having  con- 
spired against  a  Republic,  and  it  was  in  the  name  of 
an  absolute  Emperor  that  they  were  threatened  with 
the  scaffold.  Charles  de  Riviere  especially  sought  to 
make  it  understood  that  the  agents  of  the  Bourbons 
could  not  have  determined  (and,  in  fact,  had  not 
determined)  to  come  over  to  France  to  ascertain 
what  it  would  be  possible  to  do  there  for  those 
same  Bourbons,  had  it  not  been  for  the  plain  indica- 
tions, recognized  by  the  whole  of  Europe,  that  the 
Consular  Government  was  about  to  be  transformed 
into  a  monarchy. 

This  method  of  defence  produced  so  much  the 
more  effect  upon  the  attentive  spectators,  that  it  was 
very  dangerous  for  the  accused.  From  the  exami- 
nation of  a  man  who  defined  himself  with  nobility 
and  dignity,  and  by  remarks  full  of  a  lofty  policy, 
the  President  passed  on  to  that  of  a  very  different 
person,  a  man  whose  obscurity  might  have  saved  him 
from  the  death  to  which  his  method  of  answering 
doomed  him,  if  he  had  boldly  repeated  before  the 
judges  the  avowals  which  had  been  wrung  from  his 
terror  by  the  police. 

This  man  was  Louis  Ducorps  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  he  was  a  person  of  very  little  education, 
who  had  been  a  gardener  before  he  became  a  soldier 
in  the  rebel  ranks  of  La  Vendee.  It  will  also  be 
remembered  that  the  principal  charge  against  him  was 


240        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

that  he  had  acted  as  guide  to  some  of  the  chief  con- 
spirators, from  Aumale  to  Paris,  and  again  from  Aumale 
towards  the  sea-coast.  His  confession,  without  being 
of  the  highest  importance,  had  nevertheless  appeared 
precious  to  the  police,  who  seemed  to  have  obtained 
it  only  by  dint  of  threats  and  torture,  and  after  great 
resistance  on  his  part.  I  cannot  say  v\  hat  were  the 
feelings  of  this  man  when  he  found  himselt  constrained 
to  confirm  before  his  accomplices  the  declarations 
which  he  had  made  to  his  tormentors,  for  I  might  be 
mistaken  in  my  interpretation  of  them  ;  but  it  was 
plainly  to  be  seen  that  he  was  full  of  a  concentrated 
indignation,  which  now  burst  out  in  his  rough  and 
insolent  answers  to  the  President,  and  again  ex- 
pressed itself  in  a  silence  more  insolent  still.  "I  stated 
many  things  that  I  did  not  know,"  he  said  to  the 
President  on  one  occasion,  when  he  was  reminded  of 
an  admission  made  in  his  first  declaration.  "  If  I 
said  that,  it  was  because  I  was  made  to  say  it,"  he 
exclaimed  on  another  occasion,  when  the  gravest  of 
his  preceding  assertions  was  in  question — that,  indeed, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  he  had  heard  the 
conspirators  who  had  gone  to  Aumale  talking  of 
their  project  for  overturning  the  French  Government. 
In  short,  his  examination  was  a  succession  of  absolute 
or  attempted  retractations,  so  that  the  President  was 
provoked  into  exclaiming  incautiously,  "  You  were 
much  more  frank  before  the  instructing  judge  ! " 
He  might  have  added,  before  the  police. 

This  scene  was  the  prelude  to  another,  which  left  a 
much  more  painful  and  profound  impression  upon  the 
minds  of  all,  and  was  retarded  for  only  a  few  minutes 
by  the    examination  of  Lcridan   and  Lemercier  re- 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       241 

spectively.  Lemercier's  examination  was  without 
interest,  and  it  had  no  influence  upon  the  result. 
Suffice  it  to  say  of  Leridan  (the  young  man  whom 
we  have  seen  playing  the  part  of  subordinate  confi- 
dant to  Georges,  and  rendering  him  several  services 
which  implied  trust,  without,  however,  implying  that 
Georges  made  him  acquainted  with  his  designs) 
that  his  plan  of  defence  was,  not  to  deny  the  services 
he  had  rendered  to  Georges  and  to  Joyant,  but  to  ex- 
plain them,  on  grounds  which  would  prevent  the  latter 
from  appearing  to  be  conspirators.  His  remorse  went 
no  farther  than  this. 

At  last  it  came  to  Louis  Picot's  turn  to  be 
examined  by  the  President.  The  terrible  incident 
by  which  this  stage  of  the  trial  was  marked,  and 
which  was  destined  to  leave  its  impression  upon  the 
whole  of  it,  was  totally  unexpected. 

The  police  had  been  very  unskilful  in  their 
manner  of  suggesting  the  answers  to  be  made  by 
Picot  to  the  questions  put  to  him  by  them,  and  also 
in  the  drawing  up  of  their  report.  Picot  had  been 
forced  to  tell  things  about  Georges  that  were  true, 
but  of  which  he  could  not  have  been  personally 
informed,  because  they  were  connected  with  a  period 
at  which  he  had  no  sort  of  relations  with  Georges. 
Picot  was  only  a  rough,  plain  man,  and  devoted  by  a 
sort  of  instinct  to  the  cause  of  the  rebels  of  the  West. 
It  is  probable  that  he  had  some  vague  knowledge  of 
the  project  which  had  drawn  Cadoudal  to  Paris,  but 
it  was  out  of  all  likelihood  that  he  was  in  his 
confidence  with  regard  to  its  details,  incidents,  and 
plan.  Now,  he  had  been  made  to  talk  to  the  police 
as  one    who   had  heard  the  conspirators  conferring 

R 


242        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

together  upon  the  most  secret  incidents  and  the  most 
delicate  intricacies  of  their  position  and  designs. 
Declarations,  in  which  there  was  nothing  true,  except 
the  interest  of  the  police  in  making  them  pass  for 
truth,  were  also  suggested  to  him. 

Subsequently  to  his  having  made  these  statements, 
Picot  had  seen  Georges,3  the  master  whom  he  had 
betrayed,  and  several  others  among  his  accomplices 
whose  lives  he  had  endangered,  either  by  what  was 
true,  or  by  what  was  erroneous,  or  invented  in  his 
declarations.  Repentance,  shame,  and  remorse  found 
ready  entrance  into  a  nature  which  was  equally 
violent  and  weak. 

From  his  first  answers  to  the  President's  questions, 
it  was  easy  to  see  that  Picot  was  not  disposed  to 
confirm  his  previous  statements.  '*  Do  you  know 
what  you  said  at  the  time  of  your  arrest  ? "  asked  the 
President.  "  I  know  nothing,"  he  replied.  "  You 
said,  '  I  like  a  king  better  than  Bonaparte,  who  has 
taken  his  place.  I  have  been  arrested  because  this 
poniard  was  to  kill  him.'  "  "  Why  should  I  kill  a  man 
whom  I  do  not  know?"  said  the  accused.  uYou 
added  that  you  were  willing  to  die  for  your  religion 
and  your  king."  "I  may  have  said. so;  that  would 
be  my  duty."  After  some  other  indifferent  questions 
the  President  continued  :  "  Do  you  know  what  per- 
sons went  to  see  Georges  at  Chaillot  ? "  "  No." 
"  You    have   lost   your    memory,    then  ? "      u  Yes." 

8  When  the  "instruction"  was  completed,  the  accused, 
who  were  imprisoned  in  the  Temple,  were  allowed  to  meet  and 
communicate  with  each  other.  It  was  then  that  Georges 
urged  discretion  and  prudence  upon  his  companions  in 
the  forthcoming  trial.  (Bourrienne,  '•  Mdmoires,''  vol.  vi, 
pp.  46,  47.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        243 

"  You  will  not  make  any  statement  ?  "  The  accused 
kept  silence  for  a  moment,  and  the  tumult  of  his 
feelings  was  depicted  on  his  face.  The  President 
then  read  to  him  that  part  of  his  declaration  in 
which  he  named  the  conspirators  who  had  landed  at 
different  times  in  Brittany  or  Normandy,  and  in 
which  he  spoke  of  a  landing  by  a  further  party,  of 
which  the  Duke  de  Berry  was  to  be  one.  "  I  know 
nothing  of  all  that,"  said  Picot.  "  You  knew  it  when 
you  stated  it,"  thundered  the  President. 

Thereupon  Picot,  with  the  passionate  gesture  and 
accent  of  a  man  driven  beyond  all  self-restraint, 
declared  that  he  had  been  offered  1500  louis 
at  the  Prefecture  of  Police  if  he  would  give  his 
master's  address  ;  that  he  had  protested  he  did  not 
know  it  ;  that  he  had  then  been  garotted  and  his 
fingers  crushed  in  a  gunlock  ;  and  torture  by  fire  had 
afterwards  been  infl  cted  on  him.  He  invoked  the 
testimony  of  the  officers  of  the  Guard  at  the  Prefecture, 
who  had  assisted  the  police  agent  in  his  functions  as 
tormentor,  and  he  stretched  out  his  hands  towards 
the  judges  and  the  public,  crying  in  a  terrible  voice, 
"  Look  at  the  marks  ! "  There  were,  on  his  hands, 
only  too  surely,  the  marks  of  the  torture  he  had 
undergone  three  months  before. 

At  these  accents  and  gestures  a  universal  shudder 
of  horror  ran  through  the  spectators.  There  were 
some  who  shuddered  only  because  a  corner  of  the  veil 
that  had  hitherto  hidden  the  violence  of  the  police 
and  the  crimes  against  which  humanity  had  cried  for 
fifty  years,  and  which  had  been  forbidden  by  the  law 
for  fifteen,  had  been  lifted.  These  were  certain  of 
the  judges,  and  also  of  those  base  creatures  whom  the 

R   2 


244        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

police  had  posted  in   the  court    to   report  upon   the 
movements  of  the  spectators  and  the  court. 

All  that  the  President  could  do  to  palliate  the  ter- 
rible effect  of  this  furious  outburst,  he  did.  He  said, 
speaking  with  as  much  assurance  and  composure  as 
he  could  command  :  "  A  man  who  proposes  to  assas- 
sinate the  Chief  of  the  State  may  well  speak  in  that 
fashion."     He  had  the  boldness,4  still,  to  prolong  his 

*  The  report  sent  to  the  newspapers  made  no  mention,  as 
may  be  supposed,  of  this  dramatic  incident,  which  occurred  on 
the  loth  Prairial,  the  third  day  of  the  trial.  It  is,  however, 
related  in  the  "  Proces  recueilld  par  les  Stdnographes,"  as 
follows  (see  vol.  iv.  p.  335)  : — 

"  Picot. — When  I  was  arrested  at  the  Prefecture  of  Police, 
they  began  by  offering  me  1500  louis  and  my  liberty.  They 
counted  out  the  money  on  the  table  for  me  to  go  away,  any- 
where I  pleased,  and  tell  them  the  address  of  Georges,  my 
master.  I  said  that  I  did  not  know  it.  Citizen  Bertrand  sent 
the  officer  of  the  Guard  to  bring  a  gunlock  and  a  turnscrew  to 
crush  my  fingers.  He  had  me  tied,  and  he  squeezed  my  ringers 
as  hard  as  he  could. 

"  The  Pk  ESI  dent. — This  is  a  new  system  that  you  are  adopt- 
ing. You  are  putting  your  master's  lesson  in  the  place  of  the 
truth. 

"  PICOT.— It  is  the  truth;  the  officers  of  the  Guard  can  tell 
you  so. 

"The  President. — Not  only  did  you  make  the  declaration 
of  which  I  speak  to  you  at  the  Prefecture  of  Police,  but  you  made 
the  same  before  Real,  the  Councillor  of  State  ;  you  persisted 
before  the  Judge  of  Instruction. 

14  Picot. — I  was  afraid,  after  what  I  had  suffered,  that  they 
would  begin  again.  I  had  been  scorched  at  the  fire,  and  my 
fingers  had  been  crushed." 

This  was  not  the  first  time  that  the  consular  police  (I  do  not 
venture  to  say  consular  justice)  revived,  in  a  criminal  "instruc- 
tion," the  "preparatory  question "  abolished  in  1780.  At  the 
trial  for  the  attempt  of  the  3rd  Nivose,  Saint-Re'jant's  counsel 
said,  alluding  to  a  letter  which  the  accused  had  been  made  to 
write  in  prison,  "  I  will  not  speak  of  the  tortures  which  have 
been  inflicted  on  each,  because  he  has  not  spoken  of  them  him- 
self; but  that  letterwas  extorted  from  him  by  culpable  treachery." 
Journal  des  Debats,  15th  Germinal,  year  IX.,  p.  2.  See  also 
the  letter  of  Saint-Rejant  to  his  sisters,  in  which  he  speaks  of 
the  torture  that  had  been  inflicted  upon  him. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       245 

examination  of  Picot,  who,  having  nothing  to  gain  or 
lose  after  what  he  had  said,  continued  to  reply  to  the 
questions  that  were  put  to  him  with  the  utmost  dis- 
respect. Over  and  over  again  he  accused  Thuriot  of 
having  falsified  several  of  his  statements  during  the 
instruction,  and  of  having  deceived  him  by  promising 
to  correct  several  inaccuracies  which  he  had  noted 
and  complained  of  in  his  various  examinations. 
These  accusations,  which  might  not  have  been 
entirely  false,  nor  yet  more  than  half  true,  had 
the  kind  of  authority  for  the  spectators  that  attaches 
to  the  words  of  a  man  who  is  condemned  to  death. 
Their  imagination  was  strongly  excited  by  the  scene 
that  had  just  taken  place. 

The  court  adjourned  for  an  hour  after  the  exami- 
nation of  Picot.  This  was  no  long  interval  of  rest 
for  the  judges,  who  were  resolved  to  obey  the  Govern- 
ment, after  the  assault  they  had  sustained  ;  it  was 
sufficient  to  enable  the  spectators  to  give  vent  to 
their  feelings  in  murmurs  and  eager  talk. 

The  witnesses  called  to  depose  against  Couchery 
appeared,  and  the  long  declaration  that  the  police 
had  suggested  to  him  was,  in  its  turn,  put  to  the  test 
of  a  man's  shame  and  remorse.  No  sooner  had  Cou- 
chery begun  to  speak  than  it  was  evident  he  intended 
to  repair,  so  far  as  he  could  without  endangering 
himself,  the  injury  that  his  statements  and  the  posi- 
tive inaccuracies  or  ambiguous  assertions  which  had 
rendered  him  highly  valuable  to  the  police,  must 
have  inflicted  upon  several  of  the  accused. 

The  President,  who  was  again  alarmed  by  the 
boldness  with  which  the  prisoners  were  retracting 
their  statements,  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  endeavoured 


246         The  Last  Days  of  the  Constilate. 

to  stop  Couchery  by  giving  him  to  understand  how 
much  to  his  interest  it  would  be  to  adhere  to  h:3 
previous  statements 

When  he  came  to  the  capital  point  of  his  declara- 
tion, where  he  confessed  to  having  seen  Lajolais  at 
Paris  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  year  XL, 
at  which  time  Lajolais  informed  him  that  he  had 
come  on  behalf  of  Pichegru  to  ascertain  whether 
Moreau  continued  to  be  of  the  same  "  disposition  "  as 
when  David  saw  him,  the  President,  as  if  to  forestall 
any  denial  or  explanation  of  this  assertion,  was  so  im- 
pudent, or  so  indiscreet,  as  to  say  to  Couchery,  "  This 
is  indeed  the  truth  ;  you  will  not  say  the  contrary." 
Couchery,  who  was  ta"ken  aback  by  this  timely  warn- 
ing, would  probably  have  confirmed  the  statement 
thus  recalled  to  him,  had  not  a  strange  and  unex- 
pected incident  occurred.  He  was  forced  by  Lajolais 
to  explain  the  statement,  and  so  to  rectify  it  that  it 
ceased  to  be  grave  and  mysterious,  and  became  quite 
simple  and  insignificant.  He  called  upon  Couchery 
to  declare  that  the  "disposition"  of  Moreau  with  regard 
to  Pichegru,  of  which  he  desired  to  be  assured,  was 
only  his  friendly  "disposition."  In  vain  did  the 
President  try  to  parry  this  blow,  by  reminding  Lajo- 
lais that  when  he  was  confronted  with  Couchery  he 
had  not  made  any  observation.  Lajolais  contented 
himself  with  observing,  pertinently,  that  his  explana- 
tion, although  tardy,  was  none  the  less  legitimate. 
Nor  did  he  stop  there ;  he  declared  that  he  had  not 
come  from  London  to  Paris  to  communicate  with 
Moreau  on  Pichegru's  behalf;  thus,  the  role  of  ambas- 
sador, travelling  between  London   and  Paris,  which 


1 


Vie  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        247 


gave  a  suspicious  look  to  the  mutual  relations  of  the 
two  generals,  was  suddenly  reduced  to  its  actual  un- 
importance. The  conduct  of  Lajolais  in  denying  in 
public  the  falsehoods  which  he  had  authorized  the 
police  to  put  down  to  his  account,,  was  truly  incon- 
ceivable. He  proclaimed  his  own  infamy,  and  he 
unmasked  the  perfidy  and  the  secret  manoeuvres  of 
the  police,  without  any  sort  or  semblance  of  advan- 
tage to  himself. 

The  President,  overwhelmed  by  all  these  occur- 
rences, which  he  had  been  unable  to  foresee,  and  knew 
not  how  to  remedy,  and  anxiously  desirous  to  prop 
up  the  edifice  of  the  police,  which  was  fast  falling 
to  pieces  on  all  sides,  resorted  to  the  most  daring 
effrontery,  for  want  of  skill.  Each  statement  retracted 
by  Lajolais  revealed  an  intentional  falsehood  recorded 
by  the  police,  and  added  a  fresh  proof  of  the  justifi- 
cation of  Moreau  ;  this  the  President  had  to  stop, 
and  he  could  devise  no  better  means  of  doing  so  than 
reminding  Lajolais  that  Moreau  had  denounced  him, 
and  had  made  him  undergo  eight  months'  imprison- 
ment, to  the  ruin  of  his  prospects  and  fortune.  In  a 
case  in  which  such  an  impropriety  and  outrage  upon 
justice  had  been  the  only  one,  this  manner  of  calling 
a  man's  resentment  to  the  aid  of  his  baseness,  when 
the  latter  had  unexpectedly  revoked  its  utterances, 
would  have  sufficed  to  stigmatize  the  judge  who 
resorted  to  it — in  the  case  in  question  it  was  hardly 
remarked. 

Thus,  from  examination  to  examination,  and  from 
accused  to  accused,  did  the  President  approach 
Moreau  and  prepare  to  attack  him.     The  plan  of  the 


248         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

trial  had  been  to  place  him,  as  it  were,  in  the  centre 
of  the  conspirators,5  and  to  come  down  upon  him 
with  all  the  proofs,  all  the  declarations,  all  the  avowals 
of  the  accused  who  had  spoken  before  him.  This 
plan  seemed  to  be  cleverly  devised  ;  we  have  seen  how 
badly  it  worked.  I  shall  now  try  to  follow  it  to  the 
point  at  which  the  facts,  as  we  have  seen  them  occur, 
will  be  completely  confirmed  by  the  result  of  those 
measures  that  had  been  taken  to  conceal  the  truth  for 
ever. 

Rolland's  turn  was  now  come  ;  this  was  the  signal 
that  the  victor  of  Hohenlinden  was  about  to  speak,  and 
every  heart  beat  with  anxiety,  curiosity,  and  interest. 

Since  the  first  day  of  the  trial  all  eyes  had  been 
fixed  on  Moreau,  and  the  calm  serenity  of  his  aspect 
bad  not  been  for  a  moment  disturbed.  The  great 
majority  of  the  spectators  had  bestowed  upon  him 
every  mark  of  honour  and  interest  which  their  respec- 
tive positions  allowed.  Some  of  his  friends,  generals 
who  had  seen  him  on  the  field  of  battle,  were  among 
the  crowd,  and  they  had  the  courage  to  salute  him  with 
gestures  of  admiration  and  sympathy.  Even  the  very 
men  who  were  alleged  to  be  his  accomplices,  and 
betrayed  by  him,  the  men  to  whose  party  his  fame 
had  been  so  fatal,  all  testified  by  their  looks,  by  their 
quick  attention  to  every  incident  that  concerned  him, 
a  touching  interest  in  his  fate  (on  the  part  of  some 
of  them  this  was  a  sublime  sentiment),  which  not  the 
certainty  of  their  own  ruin  could  deaden  or  destroy. 

s  This  was  exactly  what  was  done  by  the  Government  in 
the  prints  that  were  sold  in  the  streets.  The  portrait 
of  Moreau  figured  in  the  middle  of  the  picture,  surrounded 
by  portraits  of  the  principal  persons  among  the  alleged  con- 
spirators. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         249 

Rolland  was  examined.  He  repeated,  without 
variation,  modification,  or  equivocation,  all  the  most 
grave  and  important  portions  of  the  declaration  that 
he  had  made  before  R&l.  He  repeated  these  in 
identical  terms,  and  conducted  himself  in  all  things 
like  a  man  entirely  untouched  by  the  contagious 
remorse  that  had  seized  upon  the  others,  and  who, 
having  made  up  his  mind  to  commit  an  infamous  action, 
had  no  notion  of  risking  the  loss  of  its  fruits.  "  Have 
you  anything  to  say  in  answer  to  this  declaration  of 
Rolland's?"  said  the  President  to  Moreau.  "Yes," 
replied  the  latter,  in  a  tone  which  implied  the  most 
profound  contempt  for  Rolland,  "  I  have  to  say  that 
Rolland  could  hardly  have  induced  me  to  do  what 
I  had  refused  to  Pichegru." 

Then  the  President  began  to  question  Moreau  upon 
his  last  interview  with  Pichegru,  and  upon  that  which 
he  had  with  Rolland,  which  was  the  consequence,  and, 
so  to  speak,  the  complement  of  the  former.  For  his 
justification  Moreau  repeated  the  explanation  which 
he  had  already  given  in  his  former  examination  and 
in  his  letter  to  Bonaparte,  with  certain  details  and 
amplifications  that  did  not  change  their  substance, 
and  with  firmness  that  lent  them  additional  weight 
in  the  opinion  of  the  spectators. 

A  few  minutes  after,  Lajolais  reappeared  upon  the 
scene,  and  put  the  climax  to  the  embarrassment  of  the 
judges  and  the  singularity  of  his  own  behaviour,  both 
by  the  amplifications  and  the  retractations  we  have  al- 
ready seen  him  make,  or  evince  a  disposition  to  make. 

"  You  have  stated,"  began  the  President,  "  that  you 
knew  from  the  Abbe  David  of  the  reconciliation  of 
Pichegru  and  Moreau."     "  I  did  not  know  of  it  from 


250         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

the  Abbe  David,"  replied  Lajolais.  "  Who  told  you 
of  it,  then  ?  "  "  Fifty  people  in  Paris."  This  was  a 
retractation  which,  without  being  very  serious  in 
reality,  was  inconvenient  for  the  President,  because  it 
was  unforeseen.  Still  Lajolais  did  not  deserve  the 
indignation  of  the  judges  who  were  so  devoted  to  the 
Government  simply  for  this,  for  he  was  merely  cor- 
recting a  slip  made  in  his  first  examination  before 
the  police,  or  rather,  a  slip  of  the  police  themselves. 
David  was  there,  and  he  could  have  stated,  in  the 
presence  of  the  spectators  and  the  judges,  that  at  the 
time  when  Lajolais  claimed  to  have  heard  from  him 
of  the  reconciliation  between  Moreau  and  Pichegni, 
he  (David)  was  shut  up  in  the  Temple. 

When  the  President  came  to  the  remarkable 
passage  in  the  declaration  of  Lajolais,  in  which  he 
said  that  Moreau  had  expressed  to  him  his  desire 
to  have  an  interview  with  Pichegru,  and  that  he  had 
undertaken  to  bring  it  about,  Lajolais  denied  that 
Moreau  had  told  him  that  he  wished  to  have  an 
interview  with  Pichegru.  He  substituted  the  state- 
ment that  Moreau  had  only  said  it  would  give  him 
pleasure  to  see  General  Pichegru,  and  to  know  that 
he  was  out  of  England.  "  Bear  in  mind,"  said  the 
President,  "that  this  declaration  is  entirely  your  own, 
and  that  you  were  not  called  upon  to  make  it." 
Lajolais  replied,  "  I  did  not  write  it."  He  meant  to 
say  that  it  had  been  dictated  to  him  ;  for,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  was  written  by  his  hand. 

The  retractation  made  by  Lajolais  in  this  instance 
was  so  serious,  and  bore  so  strongly  upon  the  root  of 
the  matter,  that  the  President  was  bound  to  do  all  in 
his  power  to   elude  or  ignore  it ;  while  Moreau  was 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       251 

equally  entitled  to  establish  its  truth,  and  have  it 
recorded  in  his  favour. 

The  President  then  warned  Lajolais,  as  plainly  as 
he  could  before  the  public,  of  the  gravity  and  peril  of 
such  a  statement.  "  I  am  about  to  repeat  to  you  what 
you  said  :  it  was  quite  certainly  you  who  said  it  ; 
pay  attention  to  what  you  said,"  he  repeated  several 
times,  as  if  to  give  Lajolais  time  to  revert  to  his  first 
imposture. 

Thus  beset  by  the  importunity  of  the  Presi- 
dent, and  embarrassed  by  his  self-contradiction, 
Lajolais  pretended  that,  being  an  Alsatian,  and 
speaking  French  badly,  he  had  not  realized  the  full 
force  of  the  expressions  he  had  used,  and  that  they 
were  not  to  be  taken  literally.  "  You  know  the 
French  language  very  well,"  answered  the  President, 
and  being  resolved,  no  doubt,  to  put  a  stop  to  subse- 
quent interpretations,  he  began  again  to  read  the  de- 
clarations. Lajolais,  however,  appeared  to  be  deter- 
mined to  deprive  the  police  of  all  the  advantages  they 
had  obtained  from  him,  and  to  betray  them  to  his 
fellow-prisoners,  after  he  had  betrayed  the  latter  to 
the  police.  "  I  am  going  to  state  the  meaning  of 
what  I  said,"  he  asserted  emphatically.  The  Presi- 
dent wanted  to  interrupt  him,  and  again  prevent  him 
from  speaking  ;  "but  the  interference  of  one  of  the 
counsels  for  the  defence,  although  received  by  the 
President  with  ill-humour  and  rudeness  that  clearly 
revealed  his  vexation,6  enabled  Lajolais  to  explain 
definitely  that   he   had   improperly   used    the   word 

6  This  counsel  for  the  defence  was  Bellart,  one  of  Moreau's. 
Under  the  Restoration  he  became  Procurator-General,  and 
conducted  the  trial  of  Marshal  Ney.     He  died  in  1826. 


252         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

"  interview  "  to  designate  the  wish  which  Moreau  had 
expressed  to  see  General  Pichegru  again. 

The  interview  of  Moreau  with  Pichegru  and 
Georges  on  the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine  which  had 
been  chiefly  brought  about  by  Lajolais,  and  first 
revealed  to  the  police  by  him,  and  which  had  come 
to  nought  in  the  very  presence  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned, through  an  incident  already  related,  was 
also  denied,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  judges  and 
the  profound  astonishment  of  the  spectators,  who, 
for  want  of  knowing  what  had  passed,  could  not 
make  out  what  was  true  in  the  first  declaration  of 
Lajolais,  or  reconcile  it  with  what  was  equally  true 
in  his  retractation.  All  this  portion  of  the  pro- 
ceedings must  necessarily  have  seemed  mysterious — 
the  evidence  and  the  deposition  being  at  the  same 
time  quite  true  and  quite  opposite,  because  the  brief 
incidents  that  would  have  reconciled  them  were 
not  admitted  by  any  of  those  who  were  aware 
of  them,  and  could  not  be  guessed  by  those  who  were 
not. 

It  was  not  only  his  depositions  against  Moreau 
that  Lajolais  modified  in  a  way  which  simply  did 
away  with  them,  and  unmasked  the  atrocious  scheme 
of  which  they  had  formed  a  part;  he  reverted  also 
to  such  confessions  as  were  dangerous  only  to  Georges 
and  his  party,  thus  seeking  to  repair  partly,  at  the 
peril  of  his  life,  the  harm  he  had  done  them  at  the 
expense  of  his  honour. 

During  the  rest  of  that  hearing  Moreau  had  no 
longer  to  answer  questions  upon  the  fact  of  the 
actual  conspiracy  ;  it  was  his  political  conduct  in  year 
V.,  at  the  time  of  Pichegru's  treason,  that  was  now 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        253 

brought  up.  The  President's  questions  placed  him 
in  fact  in  the  following  dilemma :  "  Tichegru  either 
was  a  traitor  in  year  V.,  or  he  has  been  falsely 
accused  of  treachery.  If  you  believed  him  innocent, 
why  did  you  then  accuse  him  ?  If  you  believed 
him  really  guilty,  why  were  you  reconciled  with  him  ?" 

This  was  the  argument  that  the  Government  had 
caused  to  be  used  against  Moreau  from  the  time  of 
the  general's  arrest  in  all  the  pamphlets  they  had 
ordered  and  paid  for ;  this  was  the  argument  inces- 
santly repeated  by  the  partisans  and  creatures  of 
Moreau's  oppressor.  It  was  not  extraordinary  that 
it  should  be  advanced  by  the  President  of  the 
tribunal. 

It  is  easy  to  realize  how  bitter  it  must  have  been 
to  Moreau,  and  how  strange  he  must  have  felt  it,  to 
hear  himself  reproached  with  wrong-doing,  which, 
supposing  it  to  have  been  as  real  as  some  of  his 
enemies  appeared  to  believe  it,  the  Directory  only — ■ 
that  is  to  say  the  Government  that>  he  had  helped  to 
overturn — had  any  right  to  resent.  His  first  impulse 
on  finding  himself  called  upon  to  justify  his  conduct 
at  that  period  was  to  express  his  indignation  at  the 
pains  that  had  been  taken  to  rake  the  dust  of  the 
Directory  in  order  to  find  charges  against  him,  and 
to  exclaim  that  since  the  period  in  question  he  had 
won  thirty  battles  for  the  Republic  and  saved  two  of 
its  armies  !  This  was  the  natural  and  legitimate 
impulse  of  a  man  who  knew  well  that  his  greatest 
crime  was  that  he  had  served  his  country  without 
personal  ambition,  and  was  reputed  to  be  well  able  to 
serve  it  again.  All  the  spectators  who  were  capable 
of  sympathy  were  moved  to  admiration,  and  deeply 


254       The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

affected  by  this  exclamation  of  Moreau's.  His  justi- 
fication of  the  contrast  of  his  conduct  towards 
Pichcgru  in  year  V.  and  in  year  XII.  impro 
all  present.  He  said  that  he  might  have  been 
mistaken,  and  even  probably  had  been  mistaken, 
when  in  year  V.  he  accused  Pichegru  of  treason, 
since  his  accomplices,  who  were  tried  on  the  same 
charge  by  a  court  martial,  had  been  acquitted.  "  l( 
he  be  placed  among  the  number  of  the  ■  proscribed  of 
Fructidor,'  why,  since  they  have  all  returned  to  their 
country,  and  several  of  them  arc  in  favour  with  the 
present  Government,  should  Pichcgru  be  excluded 
from  the  same  justice  or  the  same  indulgence  ?  if 
he  is  to  be  considered  as  having  borne  arms  against 
France,  he  is  not  more  guilty  than  all  the  chiefs  of 
Conde's  army,  whom  I  found  everywhere  about  Paris, 
on  my  return,  just  after  I  had  been  fighting  them." 

Morcuu  knew  well,  indeed  better  than  anybody, 
that  Pichcgru  really  had  betrayed  the  cause  of  the 
Republic  in  year  V. ;  but  there  was  magnanimity  in 
appearing  to  cast  a  doubt  upon  his  crime  in  the 
presence  of  that  same  tribunal  which  had  declared 
that  Pichcgru  had  died  by  his  own  hand  ;  for  this 
method  of  treating  the  matter  was  not  necessary  to 
Moreau's  defence.  As  for  his  famous  answer  to 
Rolland  :  "  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  Consuls 
and  the  Governor  of  Paris  to  disappear,"  on  which 
the  President  insisted  so  pertinaciously,  he  was 
content  with  merely  denying  it,  in  the  sense  that  was 
imputed  to  it,  on  the  grounds  of  its  absurdity.  "The 
question  is  not  whether  it  is  absurd,  but  whether  you 
said  it,"  observed  the  President.  "As  in  the  ten 
years   that   I  commanded  armies,"    replied    Moreau 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        255 

proudly,  "  I  have  never  done  anything  absurd,  it  will 
be  believed  that  I  have  not  done  this." 

His  noble  manner  of  checking  the  question  that 
was  so  urgently  put  to  him  was  at  the  same  time  a 
sort  of  appeal  to  the  confidence  and  the  love  of  that 
section  of  the  public  which  in  some  degree  repre- 
sented the  nation  at  this  strange  spectacle.  A  loud 
murmur  arose;  this  was  the  expression  of  their  admi- 
ration by  those  who  felt  how  prudent  they  ought  to 
be  in  the  manifestation  of  interest  in  Moreau.  Some 
who  were  more  imprudent  or  more  courageous 
indulged  in  applause,  but  they  were  promptly 
silenced  by  the  order  of  the  judge,  and  by  cries  of 
"  Silence  !  "  by  the  ushers. 

At  length  the  letter  which  Moreau  had  written  on 
the  17th  Ventose  to  Bonaparte,  then  First  Consul, 
was  brought  forward,  and  the  President  endeavoured 
to  lead  the  general  into  a  discussion  of  the  half-admis- 
sions contained  in  that  letter,  imprudently  written  in 
a  moment  of  weakness.  "  I  do  not  imagine,"  answered 
Moreau,  "  that  a  document  which  is  justificatory 
can  be  produced  against  me  as  a  charge.  The  First 
Consul  is  too  magnanimous  to  have  given  up  my 
letter  to  the  tribunal,  if  he  had  seen  anything  in  it 
capable  of  procuring  my  condemnation." 

Everybody  felt  the  force  and  the  neatness  of  this 
sarcastic  remark.  The  President,  who  was  tired  out 
by  his  zealous  efforts  and  repeated  failures,  at  length 
forgot  himself  so  far  as  to  reproach  Moreau  with 
having  failed  to  denounce  Pichegru  !  He  had  already 
addressed  a  similar  reproach  to  Rolland  ;  but  in  his 
case  the  taunt  was  only  an  ingratitude,  in  that  of 
Moreau  it  was  an  indiscretion,  all  the  more  imprudent 


256        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

and  clumsy  because  its  direct  tendency  was  to 
increase  the  public  displeasure,  already  aroused  by 
the  preceding  disclosures.7 

We  have  now  seen  how  little  events  had  corre- 
sponded, during  this  highly  important  sitting  of  the 
tribunal,  to  the  hopes  of  those  for  and  by  whom  this 
monstrous  scheme  had  been  concocted.  What  fol- 
lowed was  still  more  to  the  honour  and  glory  of 
Moreau,  and  displayed  him  under  an  aspect  of  nobi- 
lity, dignity,  and  courage  which  was  perhaps  his 
salvation.  Had  he  succumbed  in  the  struggle,  it 
would  have  adorned  his  illustrious  memory  and 
placed  his  death  among  the  number  of  the  great 
crimes  by  which  tyranny  has  established  itself  and 
reigned  upon  earth. 

On  the  following  day,  nth  Priarial — the  fourth 
sitting — the  President  opened  the  proceedings  by 
referring  to  two  clauses  of  the  law  of  the  3rd  Bru- 
mairc,  by  which  the  spectators  of  a  trial  before 
judges  were  forbidden  to  give  any  outward  signs  of 
approbation  or  disapprobation.  A  precaution  of  this 
kind,  taken  to  prevent  the  renewal  of  the  applause, 
which  had  been  bestowed  upon  Moreau  at  the  pre- 
ceding sitting,  was  an  indirect  announcement  that 
the  President  was  about  to  return  to  the  charge 
against  the  general  ;  also  that  in  the  interval  between 
the  two  sittings  he  had  received  fresh  orders  from  the 
Government  to  insist  upon  the  questions  which  had 
already  been  put  to  him,  and  also  instructions  to 
repeat  them  to  better  purpose. 

[Man?,  not-.]  "Add  what  must  have  been  Bonnparte's 
anger  at  the  sensation  created  by  the  revelation  of  the  use  of 
torture  by  the  police." 


1  Jie  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       257 

In  fact,  he  did  immediately  revert  to  all  the  charges 
he  had  already  brought  against  Moreau,  striving  to 
put  them  more  forcibly  and  speciously  than  before.8 
The  result  was  even  less  satisfactory  than  on  the  pre- 
vious occasion.  Moreau's  answers  were  given  with 
more  pride,  dignity,  and  appropriateness.  He  ven- 
tured to  lift  a  corner  of  the  veil  which  hid  the 
manoeuvres  of  the  police,  whose  aim  and  object  had 
been  his  arrest  ;  he  made  it  plain  that  Pichegru  had 
not  come  from  London  spontaneously,  that  it  had 
been  sought  to  draw  him  to  Paris,  and  to  make  use 
of  him  as  a  go-between,  so  as  to  attach  him  without 
his  knowledge  to  the  cause  of  the  Bourbons.  He 
held  Rolland  up  to  public  contempt  as  necessarily 
either  sold  Deforehand  to  the  police,  or  willing  to 
purchase  his  own  life  at  the  peril  of  the  lives  of 
others. 

He  revealed  the  partiality 9  with  which  Rolland 
had  been  treated  during  his  detention,  entirely  con- 
trary to  law  and  custom.  He  remarked  that  the 
questions  which  had  been  put  to  Rolland  resembled 
an  advocate's  pleading  rather  than  a  judicial  inter- 
rogation, and  he  called  attention  to  the  most  impor- 
tant and  curious  circumstance  of  the  examination  ; 
this  was  Real's  urgency  in  apprising  and  even  proving 

8  When  the  President  asked  him  how  much  his  pay  amounted 
to,  he  answered,  "40,000  francs,"  adding,  "  Do  not,  I  beg,  pat 
my  services  and  my  pay  in  the  balance."  See  "  Proces,"  vol.  v. 
p.  7. 

9  "  M.  Rolland  only,"  said  Moreau,  "  did  not  come  to  the 
Temple;  he  was  sent  to  the  Abbaye  to  stay  with  one  of  his 
intimate  friends  ;  there  he  saw  whomsoever  he  wished  to  see — 
he  was  at  liberty  to  do  so.  I  saw  nobody  but  the  gaolers.  It 
is  certain  that  between  M.  Rolland's  imprisonment  and  mine 
there  has  been  a  great  difference."     See  "  Proces,"  vol.  v.  p.  26. 

S 


258        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

to  him  that  his  relations  with  Pichegru  and  with 
Georges  were  known  to  the  police  through  a  witness 
whom  he  did  not  suspect.  Moreau  demanded  that 
this  invisible  witness,  this  mysterious  personage  from 
whom  the  police  derived  their  first  information,  should 
be  brought  before  the  tribunal  and  the  men  whom  he 
had  accused  ;  but  the  President  merely  replied  that 
the  tribunal  never  heard  police  agents  as  witnesses. 

This  unexpected  appeal,  which  went  to  the  bottom 
of  the  devices  of  the  police,  was  a  very  remarkable 
incident  in  the  trial,  and  it  forced  the  Government  to 
take  a  scandalous  step,  of  which  I  shall  have  to  speak 
presently. 

After  Moreau  had  been  examined  by  the  President, 
came  the  turn  of  David,  that  priestly  adventurer 
whom  the  police  had  tried  to  pass  off  as  the  primary 
agent  of  the  reconciliation  between  Pichegru  and 
Moreau,  and  consequently  as  one  of  the  chief  authors 
of  the  conspiracy,  whose  moving  principle,  and,  so 
to  speak,  first  act,  was  that  reconciliation.  David 
defended  himself  with  the  presence  of  mind  of  a  man 
who  was  well  versed  in  revolutionary  intrigues,  with 
the  confidence  of  one  who  thoroughly  felt  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  project  of  giving  him  a  part  in  the 
present  conspiracy,  and  in  a  tone  of  decision  which 
conveyed  some  of  the  anger  and  insolence  of  an  irri- 
tated person.  His  defence  maybe  simply  and  briefly 
summed  up  thus  1  there  was  nothing  secret  in  anything 
that  he  had  done  to  bring  the  two  generals  together, 
and  there  were  at  least  three  persons  who  had  had 
more  to  do  with  those  proceedings  than  Moreau 
himself,  and  had  taken  a  greater  interest  in  their 
success.     One  of  the  three  sat  in  the  "  Conservative 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        259 

Senate,"  the  second  was  a  member  of  the  Ministry, 
and  the  third  was  chief  of  the  staff  of  a  force  stationed 
at  Brest,  and  intended,  as  was  said  at  the  time,  for  a 
descent  upon  the  coast  of  Ireland.1 

The  rest  of  the  sitting  was  devoted  to  taking 
evidence  upon  the  cases  of  several  among  the  accused 
who  were  regarded,  with  a  good  deal  of  probability, 
as  direct  agents  of  Georges  Cadoudal.  They  were, 
however,  very  obscure  persons,  and  the  charges 
brought  against  them,  even  if  they  had  been  per- 
fectly well  founded,  which  was  not  the  case,  were  not 
sufficient  to  lead  to  their  condemnation.  Of  the 
number  were  Herve,2  Le  Noble,  Rubin  Lagriman- 
diere,  Deville,  and  Armand  Gaillard,  v/ho  all  agreed 
in  steadfastly  denying  the  facts  that  were  imputed  to 
them,  and  sustaining  before  the  judges  the  character 
they  had  ass.  med  and  the  part  they  had  played 
before  the  police. 

Two  of  the  accused  deserve,  however,  a  special 
mention      They  are  Roger  and  Coster  Saint-Victor. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  in  addition  to  compli- 
city with  the  conspirators  on  trial,  Roger  was  accused 
of  being  the  author  of  the  "  infernal  machine  "  of  the 
3rd  Nivose.  The  police  considered  that  they  had  a 
superabundance  of  proof  of  these  two  accusations  ; 
they  had  four  witnesses  for  each  fact. 

The  first  four  witnesses  appeared  together,  to  attest 
that,  being  in  London,  they  had  there  known  the  two 
men,  Picot  and   Le  Bourgeois,  who  were  condemned 

1  Barthelemy,  General  Dejean,  and  General  Donzelot. 

2  Herve,  born  at  Rennes  in  1743,  had  been  a  shoemaker  in 
the  Queen's  own  regiment  before  the  Revolution.  He  took 
part  in  the  civil  war  in  Brittany,  fled  to  England,  and  was  at 
Quiberon.     He  was  acquitted. 

S  2 


260        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

to  death  with  Querclle  by  court-martial,  and  whose 
death  had  been  the  signal  for  the  police  to  raise  a 
cry  and  make  their  concerted  movement  against  the 
present  conspirators.  From  Picot  and  Le  Bourgeois, 
who  were  shot  in  consequence  of  being  denounced 
by  the  police,  they  alleged  that  they  had  learned  the 
fact  of  Roger's  having  made  the  machine  of  the  3rd 
Nivose,  and  that  he  was  to  make  a  second,  to  be  used 
for  the  same  purpose  as  the  first.  Of  all  the  scan- 
dalous incidents  in  this  strange  trial,  none  was  more 
scandalous  than  this  appearance  of  four  persons 
whose  character  as  spies  was  of  the  vilest  kind — if  there 
be  any  distinction  to  draw  between  men  of  this 
sort — before  a  tribunal  whose  President  listened 
to  their  depositions  with  an  air  of  solemnity,  and 
received  them  with  eagerness,  while  they  denounced 
one  of  the  accused  on  the  testimony  of  two  men  who 
were  dead,  sold  by  them  to  the  police,  and  immolated 
almost  in  the  dark.  And  then,  to  put  the  finishing 
touch  to  this  exhibition  of  blind  ignorance  of  public 
opinion,  or  contempt  alike  for  it  and  for  justice,  the 
accusation  founded  upon  so  odious  a  pretext  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  offence  for  which  Roger  was 
being  tried.  Tne  indignation  of  the  spectators  at 
this  scandalous  perversion  of  law  and  justice  was 
evident,  and  would  have  made  itself  loudly  heard, 
only  that  their  fear  was  a  still  stronger  feeling.  It 
was  not  two  hours  since  the  President  had  stated 
that  the  tribunal  was  not  permitted  to  receive  the 
depositions  of  police  agents. 

Roger  met  these  accusations  by  a  single  plea  in 
defence.  He  declared  that  he  had  a  declaration 
(affidavit)    to  produce,  drawn   up  by  a  notary,  which 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        261 

proved  that  on  the  28th  Nivose,  year  IX.,  he  was  at 
Rennes  ;  and  that  on  the  2nd  of  the  same  month,  the 
day  before  the  explosion  of  the  infernal  machine  at 
Paris,  he  was  likewise  at  Rennes,  where  he  had  seen 
and  conversed  with  the  Prefect  and  the  general  com. 
manding  in  the  department.  He  informed  the 
judges  that  the  document  in  question  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Director-General  of  Police.  A  few  days 
afterwards  the  judges  condemned  Roger,  without 
having  taken  any  record  of  his  plea,  or  demanded 
cognizance  of  the  justificatory  proof  which  had  been 
notified  to  them. 

With  respect  to  the  proof  of  Roger's  direct  com- 
plicity in  the  present  conspiracy,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  a  deposition  had  been  made  by  four 
gendarmes  placed  as  a  guard  over  him,  and  that  the 
Instructing  Judge  had  drawn  up  this  deposition  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  it  appear  that  Roger  had 
confided  to  them  his  connection  with  the  conspirators, 
the  part  he  had  taken  in  their  designs,  and  that  he 
had  named  Moreau,  Pichegru,  and  Georges  as  the 
chiefs  of  the  conspiracy.  These  four  gendarmes  were 
called  to  support  their  deposition ;  the  two  first 
modified  and  extenuated  their  statements  so  much 
that  they  reduced  them  to  almost  total  insignificance. 
Nothing,  indeed,  was  proved  by  them  except  the 
treachery  by  which  the  depositions  had  been  obtained, 
and  the  faithlessness  with  which  they  had  been 
reported. 

But  the  examination  of  the  third  gendarme  brought 
about  a  very  strange  scene  and  some  unlooked-for 
disclosures.  When  this  man  had  repeated  his  declara- 
tion in  terms  nearly  equivalent  to  those  employed  in 


262         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

the  written  deposition,  Roger  cried  out  loudly,  and 
with  passionate  anger,  "  The  accusations  of  this 
man  are  false ;  two  days  ago  he  came  to  beg  my 
pardon  for  them."  Thereupon  a  vehement  altercation 
between  Roger  and  Leroy,  the  gendarme,  arose,  with 
the  result  that  Leroy  was  proved  to  have  in  truth 
asked  forgiveness  from  Roger  for  having  transformed 
what  had  been  nothing  but  an  insignificant  conversa- 
tion, got  up  by  the  persons  who  repeated  it,  into  a 
serious  and  positive  confidence.  The  man  acknow- 
ledged, in  the  face  of  the  judges  and  the  public,  what 
in  his  repentance  he  had  already  told  Roger,  namely, 
that  he  had  found  his  deposition  falsified  in  the  Act 
of  accusation.  The  fourth  gendarme  corrected  his 
statements  just  as  the  other  three  had  done,  so  that 
all  the  proofs  arrayed  against  Roger  were  reduced 
to  nothing,  and  the  police  found  their  treachery 
exposed,  with  great  risk  of  losing  the  fruit  of  it  as 
well. 

The  examination  of  Coster  Saint- Victor  by  the 
President  turned  almost  entirely  upon  his  alleged 
complicity  with  the  authors  of  the  attempt  of  the 
3rd  Nivose.  As  for  his  complicity  in  the  present  con- 
spiracv,  that  was  supported  by  evidence  so  futile  that 
had  he  been  tried  before  an  honest  jury,  it  could  never 
have  been  proved  against  him,  but  it  was  treated 
as  if  it  established  capital  charges  by  a  tribunal  which 
had  become  the  instrument  of  an  oppressive  power, 
and  was  as  treacherous  as  it  was  absolute.  The 
defence  of  this  unfortunate  young  man  served  only  to 
prove  his  innocence,  and  to  bring  out  the  fatality  of 
his  destiny.  The  whole  of  his  criminality,  or  at  least 
all  that  was  proved  of  it,  consisted  in  his  having  wished 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       263 

to  save  Saint-Rejant,  who  had  been  condemned  as 
one  of  the  chief  culprits  in  the  affair  of  the  3rd  Nivose. 
He  hardly  knew  this  man,  and  was  not  his  accomplice. 
In  order  to  give  him  warning  of  his  danger,  and 
of  the  police  proceedings  against  him,  Saint- Victor 
addressed  himself  to  a  woman  who  had  given  shelter 
to  Saint-Rejant,  and  whose  own  interest  it  was  that 
be  should  not  fail  into  the  hands  of  the  police.  All 
that  Saint-Victor  did,  from  a  simple  motive  of 
generosity  and  zeal  for  royalism,  was  imputed  to  him 
as  a  proof  of  direct  complicity  with  Saint-Rejant. 
The  woman  to  whom  he  had  given  warning  of  Saint- 
Rejant's  danger  was  arrested,  with  her  young  daughter, 
and  a  declaration  which  implicated  Saint-Victor  in 
the  attempt  of  Saint-Rejant  was  torn  from  her  by 
threats.  Seized  with  remorse  for  what  she  had  done, 
or  driven  wild  by  terror,  this  woman  lost  her  reason, 
and  on  returning  to  her  home,  on  being  dismissed  by 
the  police,  she  threw  herself  out  of  a  window,  and  was 
killed  on  the  spot.  This  tragic  incident  had  occurred 
three  years  previously,  and  it  was  the  daughter  of  the 
wretched  woman  who  now  repeated  the  statements 
against  Saint- Victor  which  had  been  proved  to 
demonstration  to  be  false,  and  had  reduced  her 
mother  to  despair,  madness,  and  suicide. 

With  each  answer  made  by  the  unfortunate  Saint- 
Victor,  the  general  interest  in  him  waxed  warmer. 
His  demeanour  was  calm  and  self-possessed ;  he 
repelled  the  charges  brought  against  him  with  firm- 
ness combined  with  decorum,  and  the  forms  of  respect 
for  the  judges.3     Only  once  did  he  yield  to  the  in- 

3  "  I  appeal  not  only  to  the  Royalists  whom  I  have  com- 
manded, but  to  the  Republicans  whom   I  have  fought,  and  I 


264         TJie  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

dignation  that  filled  his  soul  ;  this  was  when  he  heard 
the  four  spies  who  had  done  to  death  Picot  and  Le 
Bourgeois,  use  those  two  victims  as  the  medium  of 
accusation  against  Roger,  who  had  been  his  friend 
from  childhood. 

It  was  remarked  that  during  this  and  the  preceding 
hearing,  some  of  the  judges  had  addressed  special 
questions  to  several  of  the  accused.  The  nature  and 
spirit  of  these  questions  proved  that  the  tribunal  was 
at  this  point  divided  into  two  opposite  parties.  It 
was  very  likely  that  each  of  these  had  partially 
penetrated  the  secret  of  the  matter  before  them,  and 
at  least  vaguely  discerned  how  much  of  this  con- 
spiracy really  appertained  to  the  interests,  the  enmity, 
and  the  projects  of  the  conspirators,  and  what  the 
Government  had  done  to  expand  and  direct  those 
projects,  to  guide  them,  and  by  astute  contrivance 
turn  them  to  its  own  profit.  The  one  party  ventured 
to  ask  questions  which  tended  to  confirm  their 
suspicions  of  the  secret  part  which  the  Government 
had  taken  in  the  conspiracy ;  the  other,  on  the  con- 
trary, being  eager  to  find  those  guilty  whom  the 
Government  desired  to  condemn,  so  directed  their 
questions  as  to  lead  the  accused  into  admitting  certain 
particulars  which  would  compromise  them,  but  which 
the  police  had  failed  to  prove  in  the  course  of  the 
trial,  notwithstanding  the  carefully  arranged  evidence. 
This  disposition  was  particularly  noticeable  with 
respect  to  Moreau  ;  it  was  evident,  when  the  point  to 

know  no  one  who  will  reproach  me  with  having  behaved  ill. 
Look  at  me  ;  I  hue  not  the  face  of  an  assassin  ;  I  have  not  the 
bearing  of  a  man  who  has  to  reproach  himself  with  any  crime." 
"  Proces,"  vol.  v.  p.  209. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,        265 

be  cleared  up  was  the  first  rendezvous  of  Pichegru 
and  Georges  with  Moreau  on  the  Boulevard  de  la 
Madeleine,  and  the  famous  conference  of  the  latter 
with  Rolland.  Bourguignon  distinguished  himself 
especially  by  the  skill  with  which  he  put  captious 
questions  to  Moreau/  I  name  him  because,  of  all  the 
judges  of  the  tribunal,  he  was  the  best  able  to 
divine  the  mystery  of  iniquity  in  which  he  was 
called  upon  to  act  as  a  judge.  It  was  not  two  years 
since  he  had  carried  off  a  prize,  offered  by  the 
National  Institute,  for  the  best  essay  upon  the 
advantages  of  the  jury  system  and  its  better  or- 
ganization.5 

Such  were  the  most  marked  peculiarities  of  this 
sitting.  I  have  not  mentioned  some  very  positive 
retractations  made  by  witnesses,  because  they  related 
to  facts  of  little  importance  in  themselves,  and  were 
of  a  kind  to  which  the  spectators  had  become 
accustomed  very  early  in  the  trial,  indeed  from  the 
first  day. 

Accordingly  as  these  things  took  place  within  the 
narrow  precincts  of  the  tribunal,  they  were  reported 
throughout  Paris  ;  and  public  curiosity,  kept  constantly 
on  the  alert  by  the  fresh  revelations  that  were  made 
daily,  was  entirely  absorbed  in  the  news  of  the 
trial.  Day  by  day  the  general  interest  in  Moreau 
became  keener,  deeper,  and  more  plainly  manifested. 

*  Bourguignon-Dumolard,  born  at  Grenoble  on  the  20th  of 
March,  1760.  He  was  Minister  of  Police  from  the  23rd  of  June 
until  the  20th  of  July,  1799,  and  was  replaced  by  Fouche.  He 
afterwards  became  a  judge  of  the  Criminal  Tribunal  in  Paris, 
and  then  a  judge  of  the  Special  Tribunal.  He  was  the  author 
of  several  works  on  law. 

5  His  three  *»  Memoires  sur  les  Moyens  de  perfectionner  en 
France  l'lnstitution  du  Jury  "  appeared  between  1802  and  1803. 


266         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

The  approaches  to  the  tribunal  were  more  and  more 
crowded,  and  the  people  devoured  with  silent  avidity 
all  the  details  that  were  more  freely  circulated 
where  the  retailers  could  escape  the  eyes  of  the 
police. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  police  neglected  no  means 
either  of  preventing  the  details  of  the  trial  getting 
out  to  the  public,  or  of  lessening  the  effect  of  what 
they  could  not  succeed  in  concealing.  The  first 
measure  that  had  been  taken  fiom  the  opening  of 
the  proceedings  was  the  issuing  of  a  prohibition  to 
all  the  journals  to  publish  any  reports  except  those 
furnished  by  the  police  authorities.  Then  an  agent 
was  placed  in  the  body  of  the  court  with  orders  to 
take  notes  of  the  pleadings  and  the  progress  of  the 
trial ;  these  notes  were  submitted  to  the  Director- 
General  of  Police,  and  a  copy  was  forwarded  to 
each  newspaper,  so  that  the  twelve  or  fifteen  which 
had  survived  the  1 8th  Brumaire  all  contained  the 
same  account  of  the  same  event.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  that  in  these  uniform  bulletins,  drawn  up 
by  authority  of  the  Superior  Police  and  under  their 
eyes,  the  facts  were  distorted  in  the  strangest  way  ; 
that  the  most  scandalous  incidents  of  the  trial  were 
either  travestied  with  the  utmost  impudence,  or  passed 
over  in  silence;  that  the  accused  were  treated  with 
irony  and  insolence  in  proportion  to  the  interest  with 
which  they  had  inspired  the  public,  some  by  their 
innocence,  others  by  their  courage  and  firmness.  So 
far  was  this  faithlessness  carried,  that  several  of  the 
accused  were  forced  to  address  complaints  and  pro- 
tests to  the  tribunal,  of  course  vainly,  and  with  the 
sole  effect  of  recording  the  extent  of  the  scandal  that 


The  Last  -Days  of  the  Consulate.        267 

gave  rise  to  them,  and  the  irresponsible  power  of  its 
authors.  The  President  replied  coldly  that  justice 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  newspapers,  and  could  not 
undertake  to  rectify  their  errors. 

These  precautions,  however,  could  only  impose  upon 
the  distant  parts  of  the  country ;  the  effect  they  pro- 
duced upon  the  Parisians  was  to  strengthen  their  incre- 
dulity, and  to  lend  additional  credit  to  the  testimony 
of  those  who  had  been  present  at  the  trial,  and  who 
reported  what  they  saw  and  heard  there,  adding  their 
uspicions  and  conjectures  concerning  all  that  they 
could  only  surmise  from  appearances. 

The  greater  the  uneasiness  and  uncertainty  that 
prevailed  respecting  the  fate  of  Moreau,  the  stronger 
was  the  general  desire  to  divine  it,  and  the  more  it 
occupied  the  public  mind.  No  one  doubted  that  the 
Government  had  the  power  to  condemn  him,  but  it 
was  the  opinion  of  many  that  they  would,  not  push 
things  to  that  extremity,  after  all  that  had  come  to 
light  of  the  intriguer  which  had  preceded  and  followed 
his  arrest.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  believed  him  to 
be  all  the  more  inevitably  lost  because  of  the  clear- 
ness with  which  his  innocence  was  coming  out  ;  pre- 
suming, from  the  character  of  his  oppressor,  that  he 
would  consider  it  more  to  his  convenience  to  con- 
summate an  injustice  which  had  become  evident,  than 
to  allow  his  victim  to  live  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
respect  and  honour  which  persecution  will  always 
secure  to  those  who  suffer  from  it,  even  on  the  part 
of  the  most  perverted  and  corrupt.6 

6  [Marg.  note.]  ''The  part  taken  by  Murat  in  this  matter, 
and  the  sort  of  personal  interest  which  he  had  in  the  condem- 
nation of  Moreau,  deserve  to  be  recorded.     He  attended  several 


268         The  Last  Days  of  tlie  Consulate. 

Another  rumour  was  in  brisk  circulation  about  this 
time,  and  occupied  the  public  mind  all  the  more 
because  it  did  not,  like  the  former  ones,  arise  from 
private  sources,  but  was  purposely  spread  and  kept 
up  by  the  agents  of  the  supreme  authority.  This 
rumour  announced  that  the  Emperor  would  pardon 
Moreau,  if  he  should  be  condemned,  and  its  purpose 
was,  no  doubt,  to  lessen  the  interest  of  the  public  in 
his  fate,  by  dispelling  the  idea  of  his  danger. 

The  family^  and  friends  of  Moreau  had,  however, 
cause  for  keen  and  constant  anxiety  ;  for  theirs 
was  founded  not  only  upon  a  more  immediate 
and  personal  interest  in  Moreau,.  but  upon  a  more 
positive  knowledge  of  his  position  and  the  real  inten- 
tions of  his  enemies.  The  result  of  the  few  attempts 
which  they  had  ventured  to  make  on  his  behalf  must 
have  increased  rather  than  allayed  their  fears.  All 
that  had  been  learned  of  the  leanings  of  the  judges 
showed  that  the  majority  of  them  sided  with  the 
Government.  Appearances  pointed  to  the  intention 
of  forming  a  party  to  save  Moreau  by  main  force  ; 
but  those  appearances,  which  a  few  days  later  assumed 
a  more  serious  form,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
relate,  were  rather  indicative  of  the  gravity  of  the 
danger  than  a  remedy  for  it.     Things  were  in  this 

sittings  of  the  tribunal,  and  slept,  it  is  said,  at  the  Palais  on 
the  night  of  the  judgment.  Had  he  not  a  quarrel  with  Le- 
courbc  or  Dcssoles  ?  ■  A  fresh  note,  which  is  not  in  the  same 
handwriting,  adds  that  Murat's  quarrel  was  with  Macdonald. 
"  He  refused  to  tight  ;  he  did  more,  he  went  and  told  Bona- 
parte.'' 

Lecourbc,  who  had  served  under  Moreau  in  the  campaign 
of  1800.  took  a  decided  stand  in  the  affair,  and  on  several  days 
accompanied  the  general's  wife  to  the  court.  General  Dcssoles 
had  also  served  under  Moreau. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        269 

position  when  Moreau's  wife  resolved,  although  with 
great  reluctance,  to  make  a  visit  to  Madame  Bona- 
parte, who  for  the  last  ten  days  had  been  called  "  Her 
Imperial  Majesty."  She  clearly  foresaw  that  her  visit 
would  be  useless,  resolved,  as  she  was,  to  say  nothing 
unworthy  of  the  noble  character  which  her  heroic 
husband  had  displayed  before  the  judges,  to  speak 
only  of  justice,  and  not  to  invoke  mercy. 

The  new  Empress,  who  preserved  the  womanly 
virtue  of  compassion  for  the  misfortunes  of  others, 
received  Madame  Moreau  with  much  affability,  and 
many  demonstrations  of  kindness.  She  expressed 
her  regret  that  a  step  which,  as  she  gave  her  visitor 
to  understand,  might  have  been  efficacious,  had  it 
been  taken  earlier,  had  been  put  off  for  so  long. 
This  was  the  sole  result  of  the  visit.  Madame 
Moreau  did  not  speak  to  Bonaparte  ;  but,  if  I  remem- 
ber rightly,  she  received  an  answer  through  a  third 
person  to  the  effect  that  it  was  too  late  for  any  one 
to  come  and  talk  to  him  about  Moreau.  He  was 
talked  to  about  Moreau,  however  ;  that  is  quite  certain. 
There  were  persons  who,  whether  impelled  to  do  so  by 
secret  interest  in  Moreau,  or  by  sincere  zeal  for  the 
new  Emperor,  leading  them  to  fear  the  chances  of  a 
trial  which  seemed  to  be  of  ill  augury  to  him,  ven- 
tured to  counsel  him  to  interrupt  the  proceedings, 
send  Moreau  to  his  home  before  his  innocence  was 
more  incontrovertibly  established,  and  pardon  all 
the  other  "conspirators,"  especially  Georges  Cadou- 
dal,  precisely  because  he  was  the  one  among  them 
whose  condemnation  he  might  most  easily  procure, 
without  appearing  to  commit  an  injustice. 

Bonaparte  answered  only  by  feigning  to  doubt  that 


270        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

it  would  be  possible,  or  at  least  proper,  to  take 
persons  out  of  the  hands  of  the  judges  after  they  had 
once  been  committed  into  them.  Nevertheless,  he 
did  n<>t  absolutely  reject  the  idea  of  granting  a 
pardon  to  Moreau,  should  he  be  condemned  ;  but 
with  respect  to  Georges  and  his  accomplices,  he 
kept  silence. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  rumours,  well  or  ill  founded, 
the  Criminal  Tribunal  was  proceeding  rapidly  with 
the  trial  of  the  conspirators.  On  the  12th  Prairial 
fourteen  prisoners  were  examined.  Among  this 
number  was  Joyant,  aide-de-camp  to  Georges,  and 
the  man  to  whom  the  police  attached  most  importance 
next  to  him.  Every  movement  of  Joyant  had  been 
watched  by  spies,  and  his  former  relations  with  Fres- 
nieres,  Moreau's  secretary,  had  been  the  occasion  of 
some  of  the  grievances  imputed  to  the  latter. 

Joy  ant's  conduct  before  the  judges  seemed  to  be 
modelled  on  that  of  Georges  Cadoudal.  He  was 
accused  q(  having  joined  in  the  plot  of  the  3rd 
Nivose,  and  most  of  the  questions  put  to  him  turned 
upon  this  charge.  He  confined  his  reply  to  a  formal 
denial  of  the  offence,  and  declared  that  he  would  not 
answer  in  detail  to  any  of  the  charges  brought  against 
him  with  respect  to  it,  until  he  had  been  apprised 
that  a  special  indictment  had  been  drawn  up  against 
him  on  that  point.  As  regarded  his  complicity  in  the 
present  conspiracy,  it  was  proved  that  he  had  at  his 
disposal  considerable  sums  of  money,  and  that  he  had 
distributed  portions  of  those  sums  among  certain 
persons  who  were  political  "  suspects,"  while  he  had 
sent  other  portions  into  Brittany  to  men  noted  by 
the  police  as  enemies  of  the  Government,  who  still 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       271 

cherished  a  hope  of  renewing  the  civil  war  in  the  west 
in  favour  of  the  Bourbons.  He  steadily  refused  to 
name  any  of  the  persons  wi*h  whom  he  had  been 
connected,  even  in  matters  altogether  apart  from  a 
"  conspiracy,"  and  he  was  one  of  those  among  the 
accused  who  dwelt,  with  the  utmost  irony,  and  in  the 
most  formal  manner,  upon  the  singularity  of  their 
being  prosecuted  for  having  wished  to  overturn  the 
Republican  Government,  by  a  man  who  had  himself 
just  destroyed  it,  and  made  himself  hereditary  emperor 
of  the  nation. 

Datry  and  Burban,  who  had  been  arrested  with 
Joyant,  denied  everything,  as  he  had  done,  and  the 
proofs  of  their  complicity  were  not  so  strong.  It  was 
proved  in  the  course  of  the  examination  that  they 
had  been  horribly  ill-used  when  they  were  arrested  at 
a  house  in  which  they  were  hiding,  and  that  they 
had  offered  no  resistance  to  the  violence  with  which 
they  were  assailed.7 

Three  others,  who  had  been  arrested  together,  were 
examined  in  succession.  The  most  important  fact  in 
the  admissions  that  had  been  extracted  from  them 
by  threats  and   torture,  was  that  the   money  found 

7  On  the  4th  Germinal  an  inspector  and  a  commissary  of 
police,  accompanied  by  six  gendarmes,  went  to  the  Rue  Jean- 
Robert  (now  included  in  the  Rue  des  Grevilliers)to  search  a  house 
occupied  by  a  married  couple  named  Dabuisson.  They  had 
searched  the  premises  in  vain  from  top  to  bottom,  when  they 
came  by  chance  on  a  hiding-place  in  which  Joyant,  Datry,  and 
Burban  were  concealed.  In  order  to  make  ihem  come  out,  the 
gendarmes  fired  several  pistol-shots,  which  attracted  an  immense 
crowd.  The  incidents  of  this  arrest  gave  rise  to  a  long  discus- 
sion. Dabuisson,  his  wife,  and  Spin,  a  carpenter,  who  had 
contrived  the  hiding-place,  were  arrested  and  tried  ;  but  they 
were  acquitted.  See  "  Proces,"  vol.  i.  p.  275  ;  vol.  iii.  p.  282  ; 
vol  vi.  p.  184. 


272        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

upon  them  had  been  distributed  amon^  them  by 
the  English  Government  when  they  left  England  for 
France.  They  retracted  this  statement  before  the 
judges,  or  rather,  they  corrected  the  duplicity  with 
which  the  police  had  drawn  up  the  report  of  their 
answers,  by  declaring  that  they  had  not  received 
money  from  the  English  Government,  and  that  they 
did  not  know  whether  the  money  given  to  them  did, 
or  did  not,  come  from  that  source. 

Historical  impartiality  obliges  me  to  pause  at  the 
examination  of  two  prisoners  who  had  played  only 
a  subordinate  part  among  those  connected  with 
Georges,  and  who  were  probably  not  even  in  that 
chief's  secret.  These  were  Troche  and  his  son.  (They 
were  subsequently  acquitted.)  The  latter  had  gone  to 
England  with  an  agent  of  Georges,  and  he  returned 
shortly  afterwards  with  all  the  accused  who  had 
iormed  the  first  landing  party  discovered  by  the 
police.  As  he  was  born  on  the  coast  of  Normandy, 
and  possessed  information  respecting  persons  and 
localities,  he  had  been  very  useful  in  the  landing,  and 
so  soon  as  the  passengers  had  been  safely  deposited 
upon  land,  the  young  .man's  father  came  to  his  aid  in 
procuring  for  them  every  kind  of  service  that  could 
be  required  by  persons  who  wanted  to  get  into  Paris 
without  being  found  out  by  the  public  authorities. 

The  proceedings  of  the  party  who  had  landed  first, 
from  the  moment  they  set  foot  on  the  shore  to  that  of 
their  arrival  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris,  were  substantiated 
by  proofs  which  would  have  sufficed  to  procure  their 
conviction  by  a  jury  ;  and  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
journey  revealed  hostile  intentions  towards  the  Govern- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  travellers.     The  precautions 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       273 

taken  for  disembarking  by  night  at  a  desert  place  on 
the  coast,  the  concealment  on  reaching  land,  the 
continuance  of  the  journey  by  night  only,  the  halt  at 
refuges  secured  beforehand,  and  the  assumption  of 
false  names, — all  indicated  men  to  whom  it  was  of  the 
utmost  moment  to  escape  the  vigilance  of  the  police. 
The  names  of  these  men,  their  political  character, 
their  well-known  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  Bour- 
bons, the  conjuncture  which  they  had  chosen  for 
coming  to  France,  formed  a  series  of  presumptions 
against  them  of  great  gravity  and  probability, 
approaching  to  certainty.  It  is  true  that  these  pre- 
sumptions rested  only  upon  six  or  seven  of  the 
accused,  among  whom  Georges,  Joyant,  and  Armand 
Polignac  were  the  only  ones  who  were,  so  to  speak, 
suspected  beforehand  by  the  Government.  But  it 
was  also  proved  that  Georges  had  come  to  Pichegru 
immediately  on  the  latter's  landing,  and  that  cir- 
cumstance confirmed  the  hostile  character  of  the 
intentions  of  those  who  had  landed  first.  The  least 
suspicious  of  Governments  might  have  regarded  such 
a  coincidence  of  events  as  the  preliminary  movement 
of  a  conspiracy,  provided  always  that  those  events 
had  not  been  either  provoked  or  seconded  by  the 
Government  itself,  with  a  secret  object,  and  by  a 
system  of  profound  and  astute  perfidy.  The  part  of 
the  proceeding  which  established  the  facts  now  in 
question,  and  the  result  of  the  discussion  that  took 
place  before  the  judges,  did  then  prove  clearly  that 
Georges  and  several  of  those  who  were  accused  with 
him  had  come  to  France  with  the  intention  of 
attacking  the  Consular  Government,  or  at  least  the 
Government  of  Bonaparte,  under  whatsoever  name  it 

T 


274         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

might  be  perpetuated,  and  the  proofs  did  not  even 
require  to  be  confirmed  by  the  vague  and  general 
avowal  of  their  designs  made  by  Georges  and  some 
of  their  accomplices. 

No  surprise  will  be  excited  by  the  certainty  of  the 
information  in  the  possession  of  the  police  with 
respect  to  everything  concerning  the  landing,  Georges 
Cadoudal's  journey  to  Paris,  and  the  apparent 
concert  between  that  journey  and  Pichegru's,  if  we 
bear  in  mind  that  Querelle  was  among  the  first 
landing  party,  and  that  Pichegru  was  accompanied  by 
Lajolais.  It  is  not  so  easy  to  understand  why  the 
police  should  have  resorted  to  cruelty  and  treachery 
at  a  stage  of  the  proceedings  in  which  neither 
was  necessaiy.  The  trial  exposed  the  snare  that  had 
been  laid  for  the  woman  Monnier.  One  Hyvonnet 
had,  without  knowing  Georges,  given  him  and  a 
few  of  his  companions  shelter  for  two  nights. 
He  was  tortured  in  order  to  force  a  confession  of 
complicity  from  him.  The  police  were  punished  for 
this  violation  of  humanity  and  law  :  it  was  not  kept 
secret. 

When  the  President  had  concluded  his  examination 
of  Hyvonnet,  Picot,  who  had  nothing  more  to  gain 
or  lose,  and  who  knew  that  Hyvonnet  had  been 
tortured,  cried  out,  "  Let  that  man  tell  how  he  has 
been  questioned  ;  let  him  show  his  hands  ! "  8 

8  "  Let  him  tell  what  he  was  made  to  suffer  before  he  recog- 
nized anybody.  .  .  1  will  have  him  tell  in  what  manner  he  was 
questioned."  ("  Proces,"  vol.  vi  p.  1 12.)  In  the  report  sent  to 
the  newspapers  we  read,  M  Picot  invited  the  President  to  make 
the  witness  explain  the  means  which,  as  he  asserts,  were  em- 
ployed to  bring  him  to  the  avowals  he  makes  to-day.  The 
incident  had  no  result."  {Journal de  Paris>  14th  Prairial,  year 
ML,  p.  1668.) 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        275 

On  the  13th,  the  whole  day  was  taken  up  with  the 
examination  of  the  accused.  I  shall  not  try  to  give 
an  idea  of  that  sitting,  at  which  the  most  obscure 
among  the  accused  were  dealt  with.  There  was 
nothing  to  prove  that  any  of  them  had  any  knowledge 
of  the  intentions  of  the  principal  persons  ;  it  was, 
indeed,  proved  that  most  of  them  knew  those  persons 
under  false  names  only.  So  that  there  would  have  been, 
nothing  remarkable  in  the  events  of  the  day,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  complaints  of  brutal  treatment  made 
by  the  accused.  Horror  was  felt  by  all  when  Denise 
Lamoine,  a  girl  of  fifteen,  against  whom  there  was  not 
the  slightest  evidence  of  complicity,  and  whose  sole 
part  in  the  trial  was  that  of  a  witness,  revealed  before 
the  judges,  the  prisoners,  and  the  public,  that  she  had 
been  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  and  laden  with  chains. 
She  was  hardly  able  to  stand,  and  her  feet  were  still 
sore  from  the  pressure  of  the  irons.  One  dramatic 
incident  marked  this  sitting  ;  it  was  the  presence  of 
Captain  Wright,"  the  commander  of  the  vessel  in  which 
Georges  and   Pichegru   had   come   to  France.     By  a 

9  John  Wesley  Wright's  life  was  an  adventurous  one.  He 
had  been  taken  with  the  famous  Commodore  Sidney  Smith  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Seine  in  April,  1796,  and  confined  with  him  in 
the  Temple  The  two  prisoners  made  their  escape,  and  John 
Wesley  Wright  went  to  serve  under  Smith  in  Egypt.  In  1803 
and  1804  successively  he  landed  Georges,  Pichegru,  and  other 
confederates  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  of  Bivelle.  About  the  10th  of 
May,  1804,  three  weeks  before  the  opening  of  the  trial,  he  was 
taken,  after  a  sharp  right  with  the  corvette  which  he  com- 
manded, off  the  coast  of  Morbihan,  and  recognized  at  Vannes 
by  Brigadier-General  Jullien,  who  had  seen  him  in  Egypt.  He 
was  sent  to  Paris.  When  he  appeared  before  the  tribunal,  he 
was  again  a  prisoner  in  the  Temple,  and  as  he  was  wounded,  the 
President  ordered  him  to  sit  during  his  examination.  His  end 
was  tragic.  The  capitulation  of  Mack  affected  him  so  deeply 
that  he  cut  his  throat  on  the  27th  of  October,  1805.  See  the 
Moniieur  of  the  30th  Floreal,  year  XII. 


276         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate* 

strange  chance  his  ship  had  been  wrecked  on  the 
coast  of  France  during  the  "  instruction  "  of  the  case 
against  the  accused.  He  was  taken  prisoner,  identi- 
fied, and  sent  to  Paris.  It  was  thought  that  his 
presence  would  produce  a  great  effect,  and  serve  to 
prove  the  complicity  of  the  British  Government  with 
men  who  had  been  brought  to  France  in  an  English 
ship,  and  by  an  officer  of  the  English  fleet.  Wright 
declared  with  pride  and  decision,  which  the  President 
did  not  even  try  to  overbear,  that  he  was  bound  to 
give  an  account  of  his  conduct  to  his  own  Government 
only,  and  that  to  all  questions  put  to  him  he  would 
answer  nothing,  claiming  the  observance  of  the  laws 
of  war  towards  prisoners.  The  only  thing  he  said — 
and  this  he  certainly  was  not  asked  to  say — was  that 
the  police  had  threatened  to  have  him  brought  before 
a  court  martial  and  shot,  if  he  refused  to  make  the 
admissions  required  of  him. 

At  this  stage,  the  trial  presents  itself  under  a  new 
aspect.  All  the  accusations  had  been  heard  and 
discussed,  and  the  manner  in  which  this  had  been 
done,  the  violence  and  falsehood  to  which  the  police 
had  resorted  in  order  to  make  the  conspiracy,  which 
they  pretended  to  have  merely  discovered,  appear 
more  widespread  and  dangerous,  promised  the  accused 
but  little  latitude  for  their  defence. 

The  next  stage  in  the  proceedings  was  the  hearing 
of  witnesses  for  the  defence.  Twtlve  were  heard  at 
the  sitting  of  the  14th.  The  only  evidence  for  the 
defence  worth  quoting  was  that  of  the  Abbe  Sicard 
in  favour  of  the  Abbe  David,  his  intimate  friend.  He 
deposed  before  the  judges  that  he  had  been  acquainted 
with  all  the  steps  taken  by  David  to  bring  about  the 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         277 

reconciliation  of  Moreau  with  Pichegru,  and  with  all 
the  correspondence  which  had  ensued  upon  the 
project,  and  that  in  all  he  had  known  and  read,  he 
had  never  discerned  any  intention  beyond  that  of 
bringing  together  again  two  men  who  had  long  been 
friends,  but  without  founding  any  hope  or  any  political 
scheme  upon  their  reconciliation.  The  other  witnesses, 
who  spoke  in  favour  of  some  of  the  obscure  prisoners 
only,  gave  information  of  importance. 

Perhaps  it  would  not  have  been  extraordinary  that 
the  principal  persons  among  the  accused,  men  who 
had  been  proclaimed  to  be  "brigands"  beforehand, 
should  have  found  no  witnesses  in  their  favour ; 
perhaps,  also,  it  was  to  be  presumed  that  men 
who  did  not  deceive  themselves  as  to  their  fate, 
and  felt  that  their  salvation  depended  less  upon 
the  convictions  of  their  judges  than  upon  the  will 
of  their  enemy,  would  have  scorned  the  vain  resource 
of  demanding  that  witnesses  who  could  not  save 
them  from  a  condemnation  which  was  a  foregone 
conclusion,  should  be  heard  in  their  favour.  But  this 
was  not  so  ;  it  seemed  as  though  these  men  regarded 
it  as  a  duty  to  resort  to  all  the  forms  by  which  the  lives 
of  accused  persons  are  protected  only  to  make  their 
death  appear  more  tragic.  Almost  all  of  them  called 
witnesses  for  the  defence,  on  more  or  less  grave  facts 
among  those  with  which  they  were  charged,  and  by  a 
striking  singularity  the  most  notable  of  the  accused 
called  men  who  were  high  in  dignity  and  in  favour 
with  Bonaparte  as  witnesses  for  them.1 

Georges  invoked  the  testimony  of  Fouche  and  one 

1  [Marg.  note.]  "  One  of  them  was  the  chief  weaver  of  this 
web.r — I-  ouche  is  meant. 


278        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

of  the  principal  agents  of  the  Ministry  of  Police,  to 
prove  that  Picot,  who  had  been  shot  with  Le  Bour- 
geois, and  was  represented  as  an  emissary  of 
Cadoudal's,  had  undertaken  to  assassinate  him,  and 
had  obtained  pardon  the  first  time  on  that  condition 
only.  David  had  summoned  Barthelemy  the  senator 
and  Generals  Donzelot,  Dejean,  and  Macdonald  to 
depose  to  the  correspondence  maintained  by  him 
with  Pichegru,  with  which  they  were  acquainted. 
In  short,  thirty  witnesses  for  the  defence  were  sum- 
moned to  appear  before  the  tribunal,  or  rather,  were 
named  by  the  accused  to  be  summoned. 

Not  one  of  them  appeared.  Some  presented 
themselves  at  the  tribunal  several  days  in  succession, 
and  could  not  get  themselves  admitted  to  make 
their  depositions.  Some  were  distinctly  refused  on 
the  part  of  the  President,  others  were  dismissed 
under  pretexts  which  left  no  doubt  about  the  pre- 
determination not  to  hear  them.  The  scandal  was 
greater  and  more  audacious  in  the  case  of  those 
witnesses  who  filled  Government  posts.  They  were 
forbidden  by  the  Emperor,  or  on  his  behalf,  to  obey 
the  summons  sent  to  them.  Some  did  not  attempt 
to  assign  any  pretext  for  this  outrage  upon  justice 
and  humanity.  Others  excused  themselves  for  not 
responding  to  the  summons  of  the  tribunal. 
Barthelemy  was  among  the  latter ;  the  letter  which 
he  wrote  on  the  subject  was  read  aloud  in  court. 
He  contented  himself  by  saying  with  simplicity 
{uaivct(?)y  upon  which  I  shall  not  offer  any  comment, 
that  the  obligation  he  was  under  of  going  to 
the  court  at  Saini  Cloud  prevented  his  attending  the 
court.      Thus  did  this  man,  whose  mean  cowardice 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       279 

condemned  him  to  a  continual  sacrifice  of  his 
affections  and  his  political  opinions,  expiate  the  crime 
against  Bonaparte  of  having  interested  himself  in  the 
fate  of  General  Pichegru  at  a  time  when  no  one  could 
have  foreseen  that  the  general  would  be  inscribed 
upon  a  list  of  "brigands"  and  assassinated  in  a 
dungeon  by  those  who  had  placed  his  name  upon 
that  list. 

Moreau  also  intended  to  call  personages  highly 
placed  in  the  imperial  Constitution  as  witnesses  on 
his  behalf.  Above  all  his  intention  was  to  have  it 
clearly  proved  that  previously  to  the  18th  Brumairc 
the  members  of  the  Directory  had  proposed  to  him 
that  he  should  place  himself  at  the  head  of  a  party 
which  desired  reform  in  things  and  persons,  and 
should  accept  a  post  equivalent  to  that  of  Dictator. 
It  is  evident  that  such  a  means  of  justification  was 
too  indirect  and  too  distant  to  be  of  real  utility  to 
Moreau  ;  it  would  not  even  have  proved  his 
refusal  of  the  dictatorship  to  be  inspired  by  love 
of  his  country  and  of  public  liberty,  since  a  short 
time  afterwards  he  had  consented  to  act  as  the 
subordinate  auxiliary  of  Bonaparte  when  he  over- 
turned the  Constitution  of  year  III.  But  the  inci- 
dent which  Moreau  wanted  to  bring  about  would  at 
least  have  been  curious. 

It  is  asserted  that  Moreau's  family  had  Sieyes 
personally  asked  whether  he  would  consent  to  appear 
before  the  tribunal,  to  declare  that  he  had  proposed 
a  dictatorship  to  Moreau,  and  that  the  latter  had 
refused.  Sieyes  answered  that  he  would  not  attest 
any  such  fact.  The  fact  was,  however,  wc'l  esta- 
blished, and    it   is  difficult  to   conceive    that    Sieyes 


280         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

should  have  preferred  to  deny  the  truth,  instead  of 
simply  waiting  for  the  imperial  order  that  would 
save  him  from  the  obligation  of  telling  it.  This 
political  occasion  is  the  only  one  on  which  Sieves 
emerges  into  sight,  after  the  famous  day  on  which  he 
supported  with  his  utmost  eloquence  the  Senatus- 
consultum  by  which  one  hundred  and  thirty  persons 
were  condemned  to  transportation  as  authors  of  the 
attempt  of  the  3rd  Nivose. 

The  precautions  for  the  abridgement  of  the  evidence 
of  witnesses  for  the  defence  were  so  effectual,  that  the 
hearing  of  it  occupied  a  few  minutes  only,  and  now 
the  moment  had  come  for  Gerard,  the  "  Proeureur 
Imperial,"  to  speak,  and  state  his  conclusions. 

That  was  a  solemn  moment  for  the  accused,  for  the 
public,  and  for  the  judges.  The  imperial  functionary 
opened  his  speech  with  political  remarks  and  a 
diatribe  against  the  House  ot  Bourbon,  enunciated 
with  inflated  pomposity  which  would  have  been 
merely  ridiculous  in  the  mouth  of  a  rhetorician,  but 
was  odious  in  that  of  a  magistrate  whose  duty  it 
was  to  present  the  facts  in  all  the  simplicity  and 
precision  of  truth.  He  placed  in  magnificent  con- 
trast the  destiny  of  the  ancient  reigning  dynasty  of 
France,  with  that  of  the  new  imperial  dynasty, 
pointing  to  the  fall  of  the  one  as  the  result  of  its  cor- 
ruption and  decrepitude,  magnifying  the  creation  of 
the  other  as  the  fruit  of  the  heroism  of  its  founder, 
and  the  result  of  the  exercise  of  the  national 
will.  With  even  greater  violence  than  in  the  act  of 
accusation  he  imputed  the  present  conspiracy  to  the 
English  Government,  adding  only  that  the  real  aim 
of  that   Government   in    conspiring   against    France 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        281 

had  been  entirely  to  destroy  and  devastate  the 
country,  so  that  it  should  no  longer  be  a  rival  to 
the  commerce  and  a  counterpoise  to  the  ambition 
of  England,  and  that  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons 
was  but  a  pretext  for  its  machinations. 

He  took  it  for  granted  that  the  judges  were  so 
convinced  of  the  reality  of  the  conspiracy,  that  he 
was  absolutely  bound  not  to  dwell  upon  the  proofs 
of  it,  for  fear,  as  he  said,  of  appearing  to  think  that 
they  could  have  a  doubt,  or  that  the  evidence 
presented  anything  of  the  nature  of  a  problem. 

Instead  of  discussing  in  detail  the  part  which  each 
of  the  accused  had  taken  in  the  conspiracy,  he 
was  satisfied  with  dividing  them  into  classes,  and 
examining  the  kind  and  degree  of  offence  committed 
by  each  class.  In  the  act  of  accusation  he  had 
defined  only  three  classes,  this  time  he  instituted  a 
new  subdivision,  and  made  out  five  classes  of  con- 
spirators. 

The  substance  of  his  speech  was  of  a  similar  kind. 
No  fresh  proofs  of  the  conspiracy  were  added  to  the 
first ;  he  did  not  appear  to  have  tried  to  present  the 
former  in  a  new  light.  He  merely  gave  a  more 
positive  tone  to  his  assertions,  and  made  his 
language  stronger  and  more  precise;  the  effect 
was  that  the  pretence  of  the  whole  affair  was  made 
more  glaring  than  before,  and  its  falsehood  more 
revolting.  For,  instead  of  modifying  those  assertions 
of  the  act  of  accusation  which  had  been  manifestly 
disproved  in  the  course  of  the  trial,  he  repeated 
them  with  additional  emphasis.  For  example,  it 
was  still  Lajolais  who,  going  several  times  to  London 
in     the     capacity     of     Moreau's     ambassador,    had 


282         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consitlate. 

arranged  for  the  arrival  of  Georges  Cadoudal  in 
France  ;  it  was  still  Moreau  who  had  sought  Pichegru 
in  London  by  deputy.  Not  only  did  he  persist 
in  saying  that  Moreau  and  Georges  had  met  upon 
the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine,  but  he  again  affirmed, 
more  positively  than  ever,  that  they  had  conferred 
together,  and  depicted  the  effect  which  their  con- 
ference had  produced  upon  their  minds.  In  short 
it  had  been  of  no  avail  to  any  of  the  accused,  that 
they  had  cleared  themselves,  more  or  less  com- 
pletely, from  the  charges  brought  against  them  ;  the 
accusations  were,  so  to  speak,  cast  in  a  mould 
of  iron,  and  could  be  neither  revoked,  modified, 
or  re-formed  upon  better  information  and  more 
favourable  appearances.  Lastly,  the  Procureur 
displayed  the  utmost  confidence  in  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  judges,  placing  before  them  the 
decision  which  they  were  about  to  form  as  an  act 
whose  political  consequences  would  secure  the 
destiny  and  the  welfare,  not  only  of  France,  but  of 
Europe.  "Attentive  Europe,"  said  he,  M  will  recog- 
nize in  it  a  monument  of  wisdom  which  history 
will  transmit  to  posterity."  After  that,  he  con- 
cluded by  demanding  the  penalty  of  death  against 
all  the  accused,  with  the  exception  of  four  of  the 
most  obscure  ;  to  those  the  police  could  afford  to 
allow  justice  or  clemency  to  be  shown. 

This  summing-up  produced  a  terrible  impression 
upon  the  spectators,  and  that  impression  spread 
rapidly  throughout  Paris.  It  was  believed,  rightly, 
that  the  Government  had  spoken  by  the  voice 
of  tl  e  Procureur,  and  it  was  supposed  that  this 
preliminary    utterance    gave    the    measure    of    the 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       2%$ 

imperial  wrath  against  the  accused.  There  was 
some  foundation  for  this  feeling,  but  the  public  did 
not  reflect  that  the  Emperor  was  demanding  so  many 
victims  in  order  to  get  the  credit  of  clemency 
towards  some  of  them ;  nor  was  it  known  that 
several  of  the  judges  were  resolved  to  be  guided  by 
the  voice  of  conscience  only. 

The  time  had  now  come  for  the  counsel  for  the 
accused  to  speak  in  their  defence.  The  advocates 
were  fatigued  by  the  length  of  the  proceedings  ;  they 
had  hardly  had  time  to  prepare  their  defence,  having 
expended  so  much  in  endeavouring  to  procure 
materials,  which  they  were  refused,  and  they  were 
taken  by  surprise  by  the  summing-up  of  the  Pro- 
cureur  Imperial,  by  which  a  much  greater  number  of 
the  accused  were  threatened  than  they  had  expected. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  counsel  for  the 
defence — Dominanget,  who  was  to  defend  Georges, 
acting  as  their  spokesman  — requested  that  the  sitting 
might  be  adjourned  until  the  following  day  so  as  to 
give  them  time  to  recruit  their  energies  and  prepare 
their  argument.  They  were  granted  a  delay  of  two 
hours,  but  were  then  obliged  to  speak. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  part  played  by  the 
counsel  for  the  defence  was  at  once  brilliant  and 
perilous.  They  became  to  some  extent  direct 
actors  in  this  event,  and,  in  that  capacity,  objects  of 
keen  curiosity  to  the  public.  It  was  felt  only  too 
surely  that  their  efforts  would  not  avail  to  save  the 
life  of  the  accused  ;  but  to  prove  their  innocence,  and 
to  confer  the  tragic  honours  of  oppression  upon  their 
fate  was  to  do  much. 

The  pleadings  for  the  defence  lasted  for  nearly  six 


284         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

whole  days,  from  the  14th  to  the  19th  Prairial.  This 
was  not  much  time  to  be  given  to  the  defence  of 
so  large  a  number  of  accused  persons,  but  it  was  a 
great  deal  in  the  eyes  of  the  Government  ;  for  the 
prolongation  of  the  case  meant  proportional  un- 
certainty of  the  result.  A  few  words  will  suffice  to 
give  a  general  idea  of  the  plan  of  defence  with  which 
the  advocates  met  the  indictment.  The  counsel  for 
the  most  important  of  the  accused,  those  towards 
whom  the  intentions  of  the  Government  were  quite 
unmistakable,  denied  the  reality  of  the  conspiracy, 
and  applied  themselves  to  proving  that  the  offence 
imputed  to  their  clients  did  not  combine  those 
characteristics  which  distinguish  a  conspiracy 
against  a  Government  from  all  other  crime.  They 
endeavoured  to  show  that  the  projects  of  the  most 
deeply  incriminated  prisoners  amounted  simply  to 
a  thought,  a  mere  idea,  lacking  several  of  the 
conditions  necessary  to  put  it  in  action,  and  that  it 
had  not  been  manifested  by  any  act,  or  by  any  event 
making  it  recognizablet  and  rendering  it  liable  to  a 
judicial  demonstration. 

The  counsel  for  the  subordinate  accomplices  of  the 
principals,  persons  who  had  furnished  them  with  lodg- 
ing or  rendered  them  services  of  other  kinds,  tried  to 
prove  that  even  on  the  hypothesis  of  the  certainty  of 
the  conspiracy,  their  clients  were  not  accomplices  in 
it ;  that  the  relations  which  were  construed  into  a 
crime  were  not  of  a  nature  to  lead  to  the  supposition 
that  they  were  in  the  confidence  of  the  conspirators  ; 
that  there  was  no  proof  of  the  existence  of  any  such 
confidence,  and  that  the  utmost  offence  with  which 
this    class   of    the   accused   could    be   charged   was 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Cons?itate.        285 

having  allowed  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  persons 
who  had  secured  their  services  under  assumed 
names. 

It  was  a  more  difficult  matter  to  defend  those 
prisoners  who,  either  from  timidity  or  venality,  had 
been  led  into  making  avowals  to  the  police  by  which 
their  fellows  were  compromised.  However,  as  these 
men,  while  accusing  and  declaring  their  own  com- 
plicity with  others,  had  been  careful  to  assign  pre- 
texts and  motives  for  it  which  were  susceptible  of  a 
favourable  interpretation  and  left  room  for  justifica- 
tion, their  advocates  were  enabled  to  develope  and 
make  use  of  the  means  they  had  themselves  furnished 
in  their  statements  to  the  police. 

Some  of  the  advocates  whose  clients  were  not  very 
seriously  compromised,  urged  that  the  hardships  of  a 
prolonged  imprisonment,  and  the  losses  incurred  as  a 
consequence  of  arrest,  constituted  a  more  than  sufficient 
punishment  for  an  offence  which,  they  presumed, 
could  not  be  seriously  regarded  as  complicity  in  a 
conspiracy. 

Such  was  the  general  plan  on  which  the  defence 
was  conducted.  But  in  the  carrying  out  of  it,  each 
advocate  availed  himself  of  peculiarities  and  special 
circumstances  ;  some  of  these  are  worthy  of  mention. 
Almost  all,  even  those  who  had  most  reason  to 
believe  that  they  had  proved  the  innocence  of  their 
clients,  felt  that  to  have  justified  was  not  to  have  saved 
them,  and  made  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  clemency  of 
the  Emperor.  Some  quoted  the  example  of  Caesar, 
others  that  of  Augustus,  and  one  even  reminded  his 
hearers  that  Marcus  Aurelius,  having  acquired 
positive  proofs  of  a  plot  formed  against  his  life,  made 


286         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

friends  for  himself  of  the  conspirators  by  pardoning 
them  all.  Some  of  those  who  listened  to  these 
historical  parallels  regarded  them  merely  as  flights  of 
oratory ;  others,  gifted  with  greater  keenness  and 
penetration,  discerned  in  them  covert  satire  and  an 
intention  to  contrast  the  conduct  of  Bonaparte  with 
that  of  the  great  personages  to  which  he  was  com- 
pared. 

Another  equally  remarkable  feature  of  the  defence 
was  the  praise  bestowed  upon  Moreau  by  most  of  the 
counsel  for  the  accused.*  By  some  he  was  compared 
to  Catinat ;  but  they  did  not  venture  to  say  openly 
that  he  was  more  unfortunate  ;  for  Catinat  had  only 
been  subjected  to  the  ingratitude  of  Louis  XIV., 
while  Moreau  had  incurred  the  enmity  and  jealousy 
of  an  upstart  emperor. 

Another  went  so  far  as  to  compare  him  to  Scipio,  and 
declared  that  he  was  no  less  unjustly  accused,  but  had 
defended  himself  better.  Lastly,  a  third,  bolder  than 
the  foregoing,  described  him  as  a  new  Aristides  who 
had  wearied  a  certain  person  with  the  renown  of  his 
great  worth.  In  the  heat  ol  the  public  interest  in  the 
fate  of  Moreau,  no  one  thought  of  examining  the  extent 
to  which  these  comparisons  were  just ;  it  seemed  that 
his  danger  had  suddenly  made  him  the  equal  of  the 
most  illustrious  victims  of  injustice  and  tyranny. 

There  were  other  features  of  the  defence  which 
deserve  mention.  Several  of  the  advocates  indulged 
in  tirades  against  the  English  Government,  equally 
violent  and  uncalled  for.     On  this  point,  indeed,  they 

2  Lajolais  protested  on  the  15th  Prairial  against  the  "  pane- 
gyric "  on  Moreau  pronounced  by  his  (Lajolais')  counsel.  See 
"  Proces,"  vol.  vi.  p.  324. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        287 

seemed  to  aim  at  rivalling  the  Procureur  Imperial,  or 
those  demagogic  orators  of  1793,  who  thought  nobody- 
could  truly  love  the  French  Republic  without  making 
a  profession  of  enmity  and  execration  towards  Eng- 
land, or  at  least  the  rulers  of  England.  That  the 
counsel  for  the  defence  in  this  case  should  have 
adopted  this  line  was  all  the  more  singular,  because 
they  could  not  accuse  the  English  Government  of 
all  the  crimes  which  they  imputed  to  it,  without 
giving  Bonaparte,  by  the  fact,  a  great  advantage  in 
his  proofs  of  the  conspiracy. 

Some  of  the  counsel  had  the  courage  to  complain 
indirectly  of  the  ill-treatment  and  torture  to  which 
several  of  the  accused  and  witnesses  also  had  been 
subjected.  Others  revealed  those  facts  by  a  studied 
reticence  which  could  not  fail  to  produce  an  effect 
upon  the  hearers,  whose  indignation  was  already 
aroused.  The  subordinate  agents  of  the  police  were 
roughly  handled  ;  scorn  and  hate  were  apparently 
heaped  on  their  devoted  heads,  but  really  fell  on 
those  of  men  whom  nobody  dared  to  name. 

Others,  with  no  less  courage,  plainly  avowed  their 
regret  and  misgiving  at  having  to  defend  their  clients 
before  the  judges,  directly,  and  not  before  a  jury. 

I  will  add  that  in  general  the  counsel  for  the 
defence  did  honour  to  themselves  in  this  grave  con- 
juncture by  their  zeal  and  courage.  Tn  general  also 
they  brought  forward  valid  and  natural  arguments 
for  the  accused,  which  if  advanced  to  a  jury, 
before  an  independent  tribunal  accustomed  to 
respect  the  letter  of  the  law,  would  have  entirely 
disposed  of  the  greater  part  of  the  accusations,  and 
weighed  what  was  just  and  grave  in  the  remainder. 


288         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Several  displayed  both  sagacity  and  talent.  All 
wished  to  be  eloquent,  and  that  ambition,  naturally 
appertaining  to  the  profession  that  defends  the 
life  and  honour  of  citizens,  was  all  the  more 
legitimate  on  so  solemn  an  occasion.  Only  a  few, 
however,  rose  to  anything  that  could  be  called  real 
eloquence ;  most  of  them  made  a  ridiculous  use 
of  certain  formulae  which  are  more  frequently 
mistaken  for  eloquence-  at  the  bar  than  elsewhere. 
To  none  of  them  did  it  occur  that  the  position  in 
which  they  were  placed  rendered  eloquence  im- 
possible, even  had  they  possessed  that  gift ;  for 
its  primary  condition  is  that  the  speaker  shall  be 
able  to  speak  his  whole  mind,  and  free  to  manifest  all 
his  impressions.  Now  these  advocates  were  obliged 
above  all,  in  defending  the  accused  to  praise  the 
accusers,  and  to  clear  their  clients  of  the  crimes  that 
were  imputed  to  them,  without  revealing  those  that 
had  been  committed  against  them.  Moreover,  apart 
from  this  latter  consideration,  their  defence  never  could 
be  complete  or  absolutely  satisfactory.  No  one,  in 
short,  could  doubt  that  the  chief  persons  among  the 
accused  had  entertained  a  project  for  the  overthrow 
of  Bonaparte,  if  they  had  not  formed  any  real  con- 
spiracy, and  the  only  means  of  fully  exculpating  them 
was  by  telling  and  proving  all  that  had  been  done  by 
Bonaparte's  police  to  encourage  and  expand  this 
project,  so  as  to  lend  it  a  formidable  appearance, 
without  incurring  any  risk  of  its  being  carried  into 
execution. 

The  version  of  the  speeches  for  the  defence 
was  flagrantly  falsified  in  the  police  reports  both 
in   the    letter   and    the    spirit.     Especial    care    was 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         289 

taken  to  turn  the  proofs  of  the  innocence  of  the 
accused  into  ridicule. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  this  method 
of  defence  was  met  with  strenuous  opposition 
on  the  part  of  the  President  of  the  tribunal. 
There  were,  in  fact,  very  few  among  the  counsel 
who  were  not  called  to  order  on  the  pretext  that 
they  were  wanting  in  respect  towards  the  judges 
or  the  Government,  and  who  were  not  threatened 
with  being  prevented  from  defending  their  clients. 
Cotterel,  Lajolais'  counsel,  who  had  charge  of 
Roger's  case  also,  was  one  of  those  who  especially 
provoked  the  wrath  of  the  President  and  the  Pro- 
cureur  Imperial.  He  was  silenced  before  he  had 
concluded  his  argument  in  either  of  the  cases. 
Speaking  of  the  two  Polignacs,  in  his  defence  of 
Lajolais,  he  said  that  they  prided  themselves  upon 
the  confidence  of  Artois.  Lajolais  himself  tremoled  at 
the  boldness  of  his  defender,  and  hastened  to  refute 
his  statements,  so  important  was  it  for  his  safety 
that  he  should  be  feebly  defended.  The  second  time, 
he  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  Roger  had  always 
"  walked  in  the  paths  of  honour,"  without,  however, 
asserting  that  he  had  not  been  mistaken  in  the  line 
he  had  adopted.  These  two  assertions  formed  the 
pretext  for  the  President's  severity  towards  him.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  judges  devoted  to  the  Government 
had  been  offended  by  the  general  tone  of  this 
advocate's  speeches  ;  it  was  he  who  compared  Moreau 
to  Aristides. 

A  still  more  unseemly  incident  took  place  in  the 
course  of  the  defence  of  Coster  Saint- Victor,  when 
Gauthier,  pointing  out  the  trivial  nature  of  the  alleged 

U 


290         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

proofs  of  the  conspiracy,  went  so  far  as  to  predict 
that  a  conviction  based  upon  such  feeble  testi- 
mony, would  not  be  upheld  by  the  opinion  of  either 
the  nation  or  posterity.  Thereupon  the  Procureur 
Imperial,  interrupting  the  counsel  and  addressing  the 
judges,  severely  denounced  the  defenders  of  the 
accused  in  general,  and  Gauthier  in  particular.  He 
represented  the  conduct  of  the  advocates  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  the  trial  as  a  scandalous  offence 
against  the  dignity  of  the  tribunal,  and  even 
against  that  of  the  Government.  He  taunted  the 
counsel  for  the  defence  with  ignorance  and  inex- 
perience in  a  most  insulting  manner,  and  concluded 
by  rem'nding  the  tribunal  that  it  possessed  a  right, 
and  was  bound  by  an  obligation,  to  silence  advocates 
who  violated  the  respect  due  to  the  magistrates 

So  stern  an  admonition  could  not  be  ineffectual. 
Silence  was  imposed  upon  Saint-Victor's  counsel, 
who  pulled  off  his  cap  and  gown  in  the  presence  of 
the  audience,  and,  addressing  his  client,  took  him  to 
witness  of  the  violence  that  was  done  to  him,  and, 
relinquishing  the  case,  wished  the  unfortunate  young 
man,  who  seemed  to  be  pursued  by  an  evil  destiny,  a 
more  eloquent  or  a  more  fortunate  defender. 

I  shall  deal  with  the  defence  of  Moreau  separately, 
on  account  of  the  difference  of  his  position,  and  in 
order  to  give  a  distinct  view  of  the  circumstances 
that  concern  him  personally.  Moreau  formed,  as  it 
were,  the  Gordian  knot  of  the  trial  ;  all  the  exertions 
and  the  whole  solicitude  of  the  Government  bore  upon 
him. 

It  was  known  that  all  the  other  accused  persons 
must    perish    or    be    saved,   according   to   the   good 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        291 

pleasure  of  the  Government,  and  that  it  would  be  a 
mere  matter  of  a  little  more  or  a  little  less  of 
arbitrary  violence  in  their  condemnation.  They  had 
no  party,  and  they  inspired  no  more  than  the  barren 
kind  of  pity  produced  by  mingled  wrong  and  misfor- 
tune. Moreau's  plight  was  not  so  sad  ;  he  had  the 
ardent  good  wishes  of  the  entire  nation  for  him,  and 
the  strenuous  efforts  of  his  family  and  some  friends. 
He  also  had  the  good  fortune  of  finding  that  the 
enemies  of  Bonaparte  and  the  imperial  Government 
still  believed  that  the  Republic  might  be  restored, 
if  only  a  propitious  opportunity  of  atta<.  king  this 
man,  who  had  destroyed  it,  were  seized.  No  oppor- 
tunity could  seem  more  propitious  than  the  present. 

The  chance  was  certainly  a  hazardous  one,  because 
there  is  a  vast  distance  between  enmity  wrathfully 
muttering  in  the  shade,  and  that  kind  of  sturdy 
resolution  that  comes  out  and  dares  a  great  danger. 
Certain  favourable  conjunctures  had,  however,rendered 
Moreau's  position  an  object  of  dread  to  Bonaparte. 
Several  elements  combined  to  authorize  the  hope 
that  Moreau  could  not  be  sent  to  the  scaffold,  with- 
out an  attempt  being  made  to  save  him,  and  any 
attempt  of  the  kind  might  be  turned  into  a  decided 
attack  upon  Bonaparte. 

Men  who  had  figured  in  the  deeds  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, among  them  some  from  Moreau's  own  part  of 
the  country,  had  formed  little  coteries,  and  discussed 
the  means  of  snatching  Moreau  out  of  the  hands  of 
Bonaparte.  But  those  means  reduced  themselves  to 
the  possibility  of  the  men  in  question  mingling  with  a 
movement,  in  the  case  of  its  being  initiated  by  others, 
which    it   was    not    in    their   own    power    to    incite. 

U  2 


292         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Only  a  portion  of  the  army  could  do  this,  and  Moreau 
had  friends  zealous  enough  for  his  defence,  and 
sufficiently  inimical  to  Bonaparte,  to  endeavour  to 
stir  up  a  party  for  him  in  the  army  without  his  own 
knowledge.  The  result  of  their  exertions  was  perhaps 
more  favourable  than  could  have  been  hoped  ;  several 
officers,  stimulated  by  public  opinion,  pledged  them- 
selves to  risk  all  for  his  cause.  And  some  of  the 
number  were  able  to  serve  him  the  more  efficiently, 
because  their  position  removed  all  suspicion  of  con- 
nivance, and  nevertheless  permitted  them  to  approach 
him.  A  considerable  body  of  men,  among  the  soldiery 
stationed  in  the  environs  of  Paris,  seemed  to  be 
entirely  devoted  to  Moreau,  and  had  offered  to  rcc< 
him  among  them  if  he  could  escape,  and  to  conduct 
him  with  speed  to  a  nucleus  of  the  troops  then  dis- 
persed along  the. coast.  Communications  had  pre- 
viously been  established,  and  sufficient  .security 
that  the  corps  would  declare  for  Moreau  had  been 
obtained. 

It  would  be  rash  to  predict  what  would  have  been 
the  result  of  the  execution  of  this  plan.  But  let  us 
reflect  that  the  men  who  had  formed  it  were  well 
known  to  the  country  and  to  the  army,  that  the 
popular  ferment  was  at  its  height,  the  troops  still 
in  astonishment  at  the  contrast  between  the  destinies 
of  their  two  generals,  one  of  whom,  in  having  himself 
proclaimed  Emperor,  had  just  sacrificed  the  other  to 
his  jealousy  and  his  safety ;  let  us  remember  that 
nothing  had  yet  been  done  to  make  the  soldiers 
forget  that  it  was  in  the  defence  of  the  Republic 
they  had  taken  up  arms,  shed  their  blood,  and 
won  renown  ;  that  the  Emperor  and  all  the  pomp  with 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        293 

which  he  had  surrounded  himself  was  of  hardly  twenty 
days'  date,  too  short  a  term  to  render  him  imposing, 
even  to  the  French  ;  lastly,  that  no  one  had  forgotten 
the  assassination  of  the  young  Due  d'Enghien  ; 
that  not  only  was  Napoleon  I.  as  yet  unrecognized 
by  foreign  powers,  but  that  it  was  probable  he 
never  would  be  recognized  by  the  most  influential 
among  them,  and  that  already  storm-clouds  seemed 
to  be  gathering  upon  the  horizon  of  the  new 
Empire.  Recalling  those  facts,  it  will  be  difficult 
not  to  fancy  that  Moreau,  suddenly  appearing 
from  his  prison  at  the  head  of  an  army,  would 
have  produced  a  commotion  strong  enough  to 
overturn  or  seriously  shake  the  throne  of  Bona- 
parte. 

A  circumstance  which  I  believe  to  be  authentic, 
and  which  is  not  the  least  singular  feature  of  this 
event,  will  show  how  great  was  the  readiness  to  form 
a  party  for  Moreau.  Certain  of  the  persons  most 
strongly  interested  in  the  general,  and  who  best  under- 
stood the  great  advantage  that  might  be  taken  of  his 
position  for  the  deliverance  of  France  from  Bonaparte, 
found  means  of  getting  at  Georges  in  his  prison,  and 
speaking  to  him  at  a  moment  when  they  could  not 
be  overheard.  They  ventured  to  make  some  sugges- 
tions of  the  possibility  and  the  chances  of  a  conspiracy 
more  real  and  more  fortunate  than  his  own.  "  Save 
Moreau  and  act  with  him,"  was  the  unhesitating 
reply  of  Georges,  and  to  that  answer  he  added  the  offer 
of  a  considerable  sum  in  case  the  resolution  to  attempt 
something  should  be  come  to.  That  was  the  money 
which  the  police  knew  Georges  had  in  his  possession 
when  he  landed,  but  which  had  escaped  them,  notwith- 


294        TJie  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

standing  all  the  efforts  they  made  to  seize  a  prey 
which  they  prized  next  to  the  capture  of  his  person. 
The  strange  confidence  went  no  farther.  I  am  at  a 
loss  what  judgment  to  pronounce  upon  the  conduct 
of  those  who  risked  the  making  of  such  suggestions  ; 
but  if  Georges'  answer  be  authentic,  it  does  honour 
to  the  strength  and  truth  of  his  nature.  No 
ordinary  man  would  have  interested  himself  in  an 
enterprise  which  could  not  save  him,  on  behalf  of 
political  views  which  were  not  his  own,  lying  as  he 
was  in  a  prison  to  which  the  failure  of  a  personal 
conspiracy  had  consigned  him,  only  because  the 
proposed  cause  was  one  that  had  more  of  loyalty  and 
less  of  shame.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  pro- 
bability of  success  for  all  these  attempts  in  favour  of 
Moreau  and  liberty,  those  who  had  made  them 
found  means  to  convey  the  information  to  Moreau. 
An  exact  and  detailed  account  was  given  him  of  the 
interest  that  was  inspired  by  his  misfortunes,  and  the 
hatred  with  which  his  oppressor  was  regarded  ;  he 
was  apprised  of  the  increasing  ferment  of  public 
opinion,  and  told  that  a  great  conflagration  might  at 
any  moment  be  produced  by  a  spark.  The  officers 
who  had  agreed  to  devote  themselves  to  securing  his 
safety,  and  to  make  common  cause  with  him,  were 
named  ;  the  corps,  quartered  close  to  Paris,  who 
undertook  to  escort  him  rapidly  to  the  camp  where 
the  chiefs  were  only  waiting  for  him  to  place 
himself  at  their  head,  to  declare  in  his  favour, 
was  designated.  Lastly,  he  was  informed  of  the 
measures  that  had  been  taken  to  secure  his  escape 
from  prison,  and  told  what  he  would  have  to  do  to 
second  those  measures,  which,  he  was  assured,  were 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       295 

easy  and  certain.  Moreau  refused  his  assent  to  this 
plan.  I  will  not  venture  to  characterize  that  refusal. 
But  when  we  consider  how  many  great  deeds  have 
been  done  under  less  happy  auspices  for  an  end  less 
worthy  and  less  glorious,  and  from  motives  less 
urgent,  we  cannot  but  accuse  Moreau  of  weakness, 
and  an  excess  of  prudence.  However,  after  such 
a  decision,  no  course  remained  to  his  friends  except 
that  of  saving  him,  in  spite  of  himself,  so  to  speak  ; 
and  this  course  tended  rather  to  their  own  ruin  than 
to  his  rescue. 

While  these  things  were  passing,  unknown  to  the 
police,  they  were  continuing  to  take  every  possible 
measure  to  secure  the  fulfilment  of  the  Emperor's 
desire,  and  vainly  trying  to  keep  their  efforts  secret. 
They  had  not  foreseen  the  general  ferment,  and  they 
knew  not  how  to  repress  it. 

The  evident  interest  felt  in  Moreau  by  the  counsel 
for  his  fellow-prisoners,  the  spontaneous  homage 
rendered  to  him,  made  It  easy  to  imagine  with  what 
zeal  his  own  advocate  would  plead  so  fair  a  cause.  If, 
hitherto,  men  who  for  the  most  part  were  reputed  to 
be  fierce  "  brigands"  had  aroused  so  much  courage  in 
their  advocates,  and  so  much  interest  in  the  public, 
what  would  a  general  do  who  had  adorned  the 
Republic  with  so  many  victories,  and  whose  virtues, 
even  the  doubtful  ones,  were  exaggerated,  since  he 
had  become  the  object  of  hatred  to  an  all-powerful 
enemy  ?  I  do  not  know  whether  the  police  had  taken 
steps* to  secure  respectful  language  and  silence  upon 
as  much  of  their  perfidy  and  cruelty  as  they  had 
been  able  to  discover  on  the  part  of  the  counsel  for 
the  accused  in  general,  but   they  certainly  did   not 


296         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate, 

neglect  that  precaution  in  the  case  of  Moreau's 
defender.3 

A  day  or  two  before  he  was  to  open  the  defence, 
the  Grand  Judge  summoned  him  to  his  presence,  and 
gave  him  to  understand  that  the  Government  relied 
sufficiently  upon  his  prudence  and  discretion  to 
apprehend  nothing  on  his  part  that  could  hurt  its 
dignity.  Bonnet  replied  that  while  he  would  neglect 
nothing  that  could  clear  General  Moreau,  he  did  not 
think  he  should  have  anything  to  say  that  could  offend 
the  Government. 

On  the  1 6th  Prairial,  the  third  day  of  the  defence, 
the  turn  of  Moreau's  counsel  came.  The  court  was 
more  crowded  on  that  day  than  it  had  yet  been,  and 
the  spectators  patiently  endured  the  stifling  heat, 
in  their  intense  interest  in  what  was  about  to 
happen. 

All  eyes  were  fixed  on  Moreau,  and  he  could  not 
turn  his  own  in  any  direction  without  remarking 
friends  among  the  crowd,  who  were  endeavouring 
to  attract  his  attention.*     Some  of  his  brothers-in- 


*  Louis  Ferdinand  Bonnet,  one  of  the  most  highly-esteemed 
lawyers  of  his  time.  He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1760,  and  died 
in  1839,  as  Counsellor  to  the  Court  of  Cassation. 

4  Among  these  was  General  Lecourbe,  who,  as  we  have  al- 
ready said,  accompanied  Moreau's  wife  to  the  court  on  several 
occasions.  He  gave  rise  one  day  to  an  affecting  scene,  which 
Bourrienne,  who  attended  the  trial  assiduously,  narrates  as  fol- 
lows : — "  I  seem  still  to  see  General  Lecourbe,  that  faithful  friend 
of  Moreau's,  coming  suddenly  into  the  court,  accompanied  by  a 
small  child.  He  stooped,  lifted  the  little  fellow  in  his  arms,  and 
cried  in  a  loud  but  agitated  voice,  *  Soldiers,  behold  the  son 
of  your  general.'  At  this  unexpected  appeal  every  man  in  the 
crowd  who  was  a  soldier  rose  spontaneously,  and  presented 
aims  to  him,  while  a  murmur  of  applause  arose  from  the  entire 
assembly. 

"Assuredly,  if  Moreau  had  said  a  word  at  that  moment, 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        297 

arms,  who  had  shared  his  victories,  ventured  to  salute 
him  by  gestures,  and  this  action  was  immediately 
reported  as  a  crime  to  him  who  had  the  power  to 
punish  it.  Even  among  his  fellow-prisoners  there 
were  several  who,  gazing  fixedly  at  Moreau,  seemed 
to  forget  their  own  proper  peril,  and  to  be  spectators 
only  of  the  solemn  scene.  It  was  particularly 
remarked  that  Georges  Cadoudal,  whose  calmness 
had  been  totally  undisturbed  while  the  tribunal  was 
occupied  with  himself,  looked  at  Moreau  with  anxiety 
and  emotion. 

An  incident  by  which  all  the  spectators  were 
struck,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  to  which 
enthusiasm  and  regard  for  Moreau  were  carried. 
Two  gendarmes  standing  upright  at  either  side  of 
him,  with  uncovered  heads,  and  with  an  air  of  pro- 
found respect,  the  President  ordered  them  to  put  on 
their  hats  and  sit  down.  They  pretended  not  to  have 
heard  him  ;  he  reiterated  the  order,  with  no  more 
success  than  before.  Moreau,  at  length,  perceiving 
the  President's  intention,  requested  the  two  gen- 
darmes to  be  seated ;  they  still  refused.  He  then 
ordered  them  to  sit  down,  and  they  obeyed.  It 
seems  to  me  that  posterity  will  regard  this  act  of 
respect  for  Moreau,  the  prisoner  about  to  be  judged 
as  a  brigand  by  a  tribunal  devoted  to  his  oppressor,  as 
the  greatest  of  his  victories. 

Such  was  the  mood  of  the   spectators  ;  all  were 


the  tribunal  would  have  been  invaded  and  dispersed,  and 
the  prisoners  set  free,  so  great  was  the  enthusiasm  in  his  favour. 
Moreau  kept  silence,  and  he  alone  appeared  to  take  no  part  in 
this  movement."  ("  Memoires,"  vol.  vi.  p.  125.)  It  is  related 
of  Georges  that  he  said  on  this  occasion,  "  If  I  were  Mjreau,  I 
would  sleep  to-night  at  the  Tuileries." 


298        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

waiting  with  manifest  impatience  for  the  moment  at 
which  Moreau's  advocate  should  take  his  place  at  the 
bar,  when  suddenly  Moreau  himself  demanded  to  be 
heard.5  He  said,  "I  shall  pray  you  to  permit  me 
to  say  something  in  preparation  for  my  defence." 
f  You  can  speak  afterwards,"  said  the  President. 
*  What  I  have  to  say,"  replied  Moreau, "must  precede 
my  counsel's  argument  ;"  and  he  spoke  as  follows  : — 

u  In  presenting  myself  before  you,  I  ask  to  be  heard. 
for  a  short  time,  in  my  own  person.  My  confidence 
in  the  defenders  whom  I  have  chosen  is  complete  ;  I 
have  unreservedly  laid  upon  them  the  charge  of 
defending  my  innocence.  It  is  by  their  voice  that 
I  desire  to  address  justice,  but  I  feel  the  need  of 
speaking  with  my  own  to  you,  and  to  the  nation. 

"  Unfortunate  circumstances,  whether  brought  about 
by  chance  or  produced  by  enmity,  may  cast  a  shadow 
upon  some  moments  of  the  life  of  the  worthiest  of 
men.  A  criminal  may  cleverly  contrive  to  div  rt 
suspicion  and  proof  of  his  crimes.  The  whole  of 
a  life  is  always  the  surest  testimony  against  or 
in  favour  of  an  accused  person.  It  is,  then,  my 
entire  life  that  I  oppose  to  the  accusers  who  pursue 
me.  It  has  been  sufficiently  public  to  be  well  known  ; 
I  shall  only  recall  certain  epochs  of  it,  and  the  witnea 
whom  I  shall  invoke  are  the  French  people,  and  the 
peoples  whom  France  has  conquered. 

5  Fauriel  adds  in  parenthesis,  "  Give  here  the  entire 
speech."  But  he  has  not  transcribed  it,  and  we  give  the  text, 
not  according  to  the  newspapers,  which  mutilated  it  shame- 
fully, but  according  to  the  "  Proces,"  vol.  vii.  pp.  374-  382.  in 
which  there  is  a  paragraph  (the  last)  omitted  in  the  publication 
that  appeared  at  the  same  time  under  the  title,  "  Discours  pro- 
nonce  par  le  Gene  ml  Moreau  an  Tribunal  Criminel  Special  du 
Departement  de  la  Seine."     Paris  (chez  Lebour). 


The  Last  Days  of  the*  Consulate.       299 

"  I  was  intended  for  the  profession  of  the  law6  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  which  was  to  found  the 
liberty  of  the  French  people.  That  event  changed 
the  purpose  of  my  life  ;  I  devoted  myself  to  arms. 
I  did  not  go  and  take  my  place  among  the  soldiers 
of  freedom  from  ambition  j  I  embraced  the  military 
profession  from  respect  for  the  rights  of  nations  ;  I 
became  a  soldier  because  I  was  a  citizen. 

"  I  bore  that  character  with  the  colours  ;  I  have 
always  preserved  it.  The  more  I  love  J  liberty,  the 
more  submissive  to  discipline  I  was. 

"  I  rose  rapidly  enough,  but  always  from  rank  to 
rank,  never  overstepping  any,  always  by  serving  the 
country,  never  by  flattering  the  committees.  When  I 
had  attained  the  command-in-chief,  when  our  vic- 
tories sent  us  forward  into  the  midst  of  nations  who 
were  our  enemies,  I  was  no  less  careful  to  make  the 
character  of  the  French  people  respected,  than  I  was  to 
make  their  arms  dreaded.  War  under  my  command 
was  a  scourge  upon  the  battlefields  only.  The 
nations  and  the  powers  with  whom  we  waged  war 
have  more  than  once  borne  that  testimony  to  me,  in 
the  midst  of  their  ravaged  territories.  This  conduct 
was,  in  my  belief,  as  well  calculated  as  our  victories 
to  make  conquests  for  France. 

"Even  at  the  time  when  opposite  maxims  seemed 
to  prevail  in  the  committees  of  the  Government,  this 
line  of  action  did  not  expose  me  to  either  calumny  or 
persecution.       No  shadow  had  ever  fallen  upon  the 


6  He  was  '■  prevot  de  droit"  at  Rennes  when  the  Revolution 
broke  out,  and,  owing  to  the  influence  he  had  acquired  over  the 
students,  he  played  an  important  part  in  the  disturbances  in 
that  town  from  the  period  of  M.  de  Brienne's  Ministry. 


300         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

military  glory  which  I  had  won, until  that  too  famous 
day,  the  18th  Fructidor. 

"  The  persons  who  brought  about  the  events  of 
that  day  with  so  much  rapidity,  reproached  me  with 
having  been  too  slow  to  denounce  a  man  whom  I  could 
only  regard  as  a  brother-  in-arms  until  the  moment 
when  the  evidence  of  facts  and  proofs  made  it  plain  to 
me  that  he  was  justly  accused,  and  not  only  by  unjust 
suspicion.  The  Directory,  which  alone  was  sufficiently 
well  acquainted  with  my  conduct  to  judge  it  fairly, 
and  could  not,  as  everybody  knows,  be  disposed  to 
regard  me  with  indulgence,  loudly  declared  how 
entirely  irreproachable  it  held  me  to  be.  It  gave  me 
employment;  the  post  was  not  brilliant;  it  sjoii 
became  so  r 

"  I  venture  to  believe  that  the  nation  has  not 
forgotten  how  well  worthy  of  it  I  have  proved  myself ; 
it  has  not  forgotten  with  what  ready  self-devo- 
tion I  fought  in  Italy  in  subordinate  posts  ;  it  has 
not  forgotten  how  I  was  restored  to  the  command- 
in-chicf  by  the  reverses  of  our  arms,  and  re-made 
general,  so  to  speak,  by  our  misfortunes.  The  nation 
remembers  how  twice  over  I  reconstructed  an  army 
of  the  remnants  of  those  that  had  been  dispersed,9 
and  how,  after  I  had  twice  over  put  it  into  a  condi- 
tion to  hold  its  own  against  the  Russians  and  the 
Austrians,  I  twice  over  laid  down  the  command  to 
take  one  which  was  a  greater  trust.1 

7  The  Directory  appointed  him  Inspector-General  in  1798,  then 
sent  him  to  Italy  in  1799,  to  reinforce  ScheYer,  an  incapable 
person,  who.  being  overwhelmed  by  reverses,  ended  by  handing 
over  the  command  to  Moreau. 

8  Alter  joubert's  defeat  and  death  at  Novi.  He  had  served 
under  joubert 

1  The  command-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  Rhine. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        301 

"  I  was  not  at  that  period  of  my  life  more  repub- 
lican than  at  every  other,  but  I  appeared  a  more 
prominent  republican.  The  attention  and  the  con- 
fidence of  those  to  whom  it  belonged  to  give  fresh 
movement  and  new  direction  to  the  Republic,  tended 
towards  me  in  a  more  special  way.  It  is  well  known 
that  it  was  proposed  to  me  to  put  myself  at  the  head 
of  an  enterprise  closely  resembling  that  of  the  1 8th 
Brumaire.2  My  ambition,  if  I  had  much,  might 
asily  have  concealed  itself  under  the  appearance,  or 
even  openly  boasted  of  the  reality,  of  love  of  country. 

"The  proposal  was  made  to  me  by  men  who  were 
celebrated  in  the  Revolution  for  their  patriotism,  and 
in  our  national  assemblies  for  their  talents.  I  refused 
it ;  I  believed  myself  called  to  command  armies  ;  but 
not  to  command  the  Republic. 

'  That  was  enough  to  prove,  it  seems  to  me,  that 
if  I  had  an  ambition,  it  was  not  directed  towards 
authority  and  power  :  soon  afterwards  I  proved  this 
better  still 

"The  1 8th  Brumaire  came,  and  I  was  in  Paris. 
There  was  nothing  to  alarm  my  conscience  in  that 
Revolution  which  was  brought  about  by  others  than 

2  This  is  a  suitable  place  to  give  an  idea  of  the  accuracy  with 
which  the  journals  still  permitted  to  exist  by  Bonaparte,  and 
entirely  subservient  to  him,  kept  the  public  informed  of  the 
details  of  this  trial.  Le  Publiciste  gives  Moreau's  speech  in  its 
number  of  the  18th  Prairial  (7th  June),  but  after  the  words  "  at 
the  head  of  an  enterprise ''  {journee)  it  suppresses  those  which 
were  characteristic,  ''  nearly  resembling  that  of  the  18th  Bru- 
maire," thus  rendering  the  phrase  incomprehensible.  It  sup- 
presses all  the  succeeding  paragraphs,  down  to  the  last  but  one, 
beginning  with  "  to  trace  out  this  course  for  me."  The  second 
part  of  the  speech  is  thus  made  unintelligible,  and  the  readers 
of  Le  Publiciste  could  not  understand  the  profound  sensation 
which  it  had  created.  . 


302        The  Last  Days  of  the  Constilaie. 

me.  It  was  directed  by  a  man  who  was  surrounded 
by  a  nimbus  of  fame  ;  I  might  hope  for  happy  results 
from  it.  I  entered  into  it  to  second  it,  while  other 
parties  were  pressing  me  to  put  myself  at  their  head 
to  oppose  it.  In  Paris  I  received  the  orders  of 
General  Bonaparte.  By  having  them  executed,  I 
assisted  to  raise  him  to  that  high  degree  of  power 
which  circumstances  rendered  necessary. 

"  When,  some  time  afterwards,  he  offered  me  the 
command-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  I 
accepted  it  from  him  with  as  much  zeal  as  from  the 
hand  of  the  Republic  itself.  My  m'litary  succt 
were  never  more  rapid,  more  numerous,  more  decisive 
than  at  the  period  when  their  lustre  was  shed  upon 
that  Government  which  accuses  me. 

"  On  returning  from  the  scenes  of  all  these  achieve- 
ments— the  greatest  was  the  having  effectually 
secured  the  peace  of  the  Continent — the  triumphant 
soldier  was  greeted  with  acclamations  that  are  a 
national  recompense. 

"  What  a  moment  to  choose  for  conspiring,  if  such 
a  design  had  ever  entered  my  mind  ! 

"The  attachment  of  troops  to  the  chiefs  who  have 
led  them  to  victory  is  well  known.  Would  an 
ambitious  man,  a  conspirator,  have  let  slip  the  oppor- 
tunity, when  he  was  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  one 
hundred  thousand  men,  who  had  been  so  often 
victorious,  and  when  he  was  returning  to  the  midst  of 
a  nation  still  disturbed  and  always  trembling  for  its 
principles  and  their  duration  ? 

"  My  only  thought  was  to  disband  the  troops,  and 
I  retired  into  the  repose  of  civil  life. 

"In  that  repose,  which  was  not  devoid  of  glory,  I 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        303 

enjoyed  my  honours,  no  doubt — those  honours  of 
which  no  human  power  can  deprive  me  :  the  remem- 
brance of  my  deeds,  the  testimony  of  my  conscience, 
the  esteem  of  my  fellow-countrymen  and  foreigners 
alike,  and,  if  I  may  say  so,  the  sweet  and  soothing 
foretaste  of  the  judgment  of  posterity. 

"  I  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  fortune  which  was 
large,  only  because  my  desires  were  not  extravagant, 
and  which  was  no  reproach  to  my  conscience.  I  had 
my  retired  pension  also ;  assuredly,  I  was  content 
with  my  lot,  I,  who  had  never  envied  the  lot  of  any. 
My  family  and  some  friends — all  the  more  precious 
because,  as  they  had  nothing  to  hope  from  my  credit 
and  my  fortune,  they  could  but  be  attached  to  myself 
alone — these  possessions  filled  my  whole  mind,  and 
neither  desires  nor  ambition  found  any  entrance  into 
it.     Would  it  be  accessible  to  criminal  projects  ? 

"This  state  of  mind  was  so  well  known  to  be  mine; 
it  was  so  amply  vouched  for  by  the  distance  which  I 
maintained  from  all  the  aims  of  ambition,  that  from 
the  battle  of  Hohenlinden  until  my  arrest,  my  enemies 
have  never  been  able  to  find,  nor  have  they  sought, 
any  other  crime  whereof  to  accuse  me,  except  the  free- 
dom of  my  speech.  Well,  it  has  often  been  favour- 
able to  the  actions  of  the  Government ;  and  if  some- 
times it  has  not  been  so,  was  I  to  think  that  such 
liberty  was  a  crime,  in  a  country  which  had  so  often 
affirmed  by  decree  that  thought,  speech,  and  the  press 
are  free,  and  had  enjoyed  a  great  deal  of  liberty  even 
under  its  kings? 

*■  I  was  born  with  a  very  frank  disposition,  and  I 
have  never  been  able  to  rid  myself  of  that  attribute  of 
France,  in  which  I  was  born,  either  in  the  camp,  where 


304         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

it  flourished  more  than  before,  or  in  the  Revolution 
which  has  always  proclaimed  it  a  virtue  in  the  man 
and  a  duty  of  the  citizen.  But  do  those  who  conspire 
blame  what  they  disapprove  quite  so  loudly  ?  Such 
candour  is  hardly  reconcilable  with  the  plots  and 
mysteries  of  politics. 

"If  I  had  chosen  to  concoct  and  carry  out  plans 
of  conspiracy,  I  would  have  dissembled  my  feelings, 
and  endeavoured  to  get  every  post  which  would  have 
replaced  me  amid  the  forces  of  the  nation. 

"  I  never  possessed  political  genius  to  indicate 
such  a  course  to  me,  but  there  were  well-known 
examples  which  had  been  rendered  conspicuous 
by  success,  and  I  had  but  to  consider  them.  I  know 
very  well  that  Monk3  did  not  go  away  to  a  distance 
from  the  troops  when  he  planned  his  conspiracy,  and 
that  Cassius  and  Brutus  drew  near  to  Caesar  pre- 
viously to  stabbing  him. 

"  And  now,  magistrates,  I  have  nothing  more  to 
say  to  you.  Such  has  been  my  character,  such  has 
been  my  whole  life.  In  the  presence  of  God  and 
man  I  affirm  the  innocence  and  integrity  of  my  con- 
duct ;  you  know  what  is  your  duty  ;  France  is  listen- 
ing to  you,  Europe  is  observing  you,  and  posterity 
awaits  you. 

"  I  am  accused  of  being  a  brigand  and  a  conspirator. 
The  generous  gentleman  who  has  undertaken  my 
defence  will,  I  hope,  convince  you  presently  that  such 
an  accusation  is  ill-founded."  * 

Moreau's  address,  delivered  in  a  calm  and  dignified 

He  names  Monk,  no  doubt  in  allusion  to  the  already-men- 
tioned pamphlet  by  Fontanes. 

As  we  have  already  said,  this  paragraph  is  not  inserted  in 
the  "  Proces." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        305 

tone,  produced  an  effect  which  it  would  be  difficult  to 
describe,  and  left  a  deep  impression,  to  which  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  add  anything,  on  every  mind. 
This  profession  of  republican  sentiments,  when  the 
Republic  had  just  been  invaded,  like  an  hereditary 
property,  by  the  man  who  was  pursuing  it  ...  . 

(By  the  Editor.) 

The  last  page  of  Fauriel's  manuscript  ends  with 
this  unfinished  sentence.  For  the  second  time  the 
task  of  supplying  what  he  has  left  unsaid  devolves  on 
me.  Before  I  proceed  with  the  narrative  of  this 
dramatic  trial,  so  ably  depicted  by  him,  with  its 
moving  incidents,  and  in  its  flagrant  iniquity,  I  must 
ask  permission  to  go  back  for  a  while,  and  borrow 
a  few  touches  which  will  lend  additional  effect  to 
Fauriel's  picture,  from  unpublished  documents  which 
I  have  met  with  in  the  course  of  my  researches. 

In  the  archives  of  the  Prefecture  of  Police  there 
are  a  number  of  boxes,  inscribed  "Affaire  Cadoudal," 
and  containing  the  documents  relating  to  that  part  of 
the  "  instruction  "  which  was  entrusted  to  the  police. 
In  one  of  these  boxes  I  found  the  confidential  reports 
of  the  agents  who  were  sent  by  the  Prefect  to  attend 
the  court  each  day,  and  report  to  him  upon  the 
aspect,  impressions,  and  talk  of  the  public.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  of  these  reports — they  were, 
I  need  hardly  say,  entirely  distinct  from  those 
upon  which  the  lying  accounts  sent  daily  to  the 
papers  were  founded — is  that  of  the  first  sitting 
of  the  tribunal  on  the  8th  Prairial.  The  agent 
writes : — 

X 


306       The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

"  The  public  manifested  extreme  curiosity  to  see 
the  accused,  who  were  ranged  on  four  benches,  and  in 
the  order  laid  down  in  the  act  of  accusation. 

"At  the  sight  of  Georges  there  was  a  consider- 
able sensation,  and  some  sounds  of  indignation  were 
uttered. 

"There  was  also  noticeable  eagerness  to  see 
Moreau,  but  when  he  appeared,  or  when  he  answered 
to  his  name,  nothing  unusual  occurred.  He  answered 
very  low  ;  he  could  not  be  heard,  indeed,  and  silence 
was  observed  then,  as  it  was  whet)  the  other  con- 
federates were  called. 

"  The  four  ranks  of  prisoners,  all  separated  from 
one  another  by  a  gendarme,  presented  an  imposing 
appearance,  and  this  first  sitting  was  orderly. 

"Among  the  accused  some  were  scrupulously  well 
dressed,  and  all,  wit.i  the  exception  of  five  or  six 
(more  especially  among  those  who  had  harboured  the 
brigands),  showed  a  great  deal  of  coolness  ;  in  the 
faces  of  some  the  carelessness  of  a  criminal  whose 
mind  is  made  up  was  to  be  read.  Georges,  in 
particular,  wore  such  an  expression. 

"  Rusillion's  face  wore  a  constant  smile. 

"The  Polignacs,  too,  saluted  some  persons  who  sat 
opposite  to  them,  with  a  cheerful,  smiling  air. 

"D'Hozier  looked  hard,  bold,  not  in  the  least  dis- 
concerted 

"  Francois  de'  Riviere  was  conspicuous  for  his  im- 
pudence of  air,  of  manner,  and  of  look. 

"  Picot  answered  to  his  name  with  the  utmost  bold- 
ness ;  he  looked  like  a  determined  ruffian  all  through 
the  sitting. 

"  Roger    Loiseau,    who    affected    an   exaggerated 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.         307 

neatness  in  his  dress,  wore  an  equally  offensive  air  of 
insolence. 

".But  Coster  Saint-Victor  surpassed  all  the  others 
in  this  respect.  He  held  his  head  up,  his  look  was 
as  firm  and  cruel  as  that  of  a  bird  of  prey,  he  bit 
the  back  of  his  nails  while  the  act  of  accusation  was 
being  read,  and  at  each  imputation  he  would  smile 
contemptuously,  and  with  a  negative  or  affirmative 
shake  of  head  would  seem  to  say,  '  That  is  true,'  or, 
1  That  is  not  true.' 

"An  insolent  smile  also  sat  upon  the  fa  e  of  the 
girl  Hizay,  while  the  act  of  accusation  in  her  case 
was  being  read. 

"Almost  the  same  might  be  said  of  Pierre  Jean 
Cadoudal. 

"These  persons  looked  at  one  another  and  smiled, 
when  the  charges  in  which  several  of  them  were 
jointly  implicated  were  read. 

"  A  foreign  captain  of  a  ship  was  brought  in  and 
placed  on  a  seat  in  front  of  one  of  the  benches  occu- 
pied by  the  witnesses  ;  he  wore  anchor  buttons  and 
a  black  cockade ;  this  individual  was  said  to  be 
Thomas  Wright." 

The  natural  prejudice  against  men  who  had  been 
stigmatized  as  "  brigands "  subsided  by  degrees 
during  the  progress  of  the  trial  ;  so  that  in  reference 
to  the  examination  of  Coster  Saint-Victor,  whose 
intrepidity  never  faltered  for  a  moment,  although 
he  felt  himself  doomed  to  certain  death,  the  agent 
does  not  hesitate  to  say :  "He  has  much  impressed 
the  publ-ic  by  his  candour  and  his  courage  in  acknow- 
ledging his  unalterable  attachment  to  the  Count 
d'Artois  and  the  cause  of  the  princes.     He  has  borne 

x  2 


308         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

all  the  charges  brought  against  him  by  the  witnesses 
and  others  without  accusing  anybody." 5 

He  has  to  record,  a  few  days  later,  that  the  defender 
of  the  Polignacs  "  made  the  hearers  and  even  some  of 
the  judges  shed  tears,  and  that  there  arose  in  the  court 
a  prolonged  murmur  of  approbation  of  the  two 
prisoners  whom  he  defended  with  great  ability." 

At  the  sitting  of  the  ioth,  when  Picot  revealed  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  tortured,  "that,"  says  the  agent, 
*  made  some  impression  upon  the  public.  One  heard 
the  words  'this  is  horrible'  in  the  crowd.  A  witness 
deposing  against  Picot  said,  when  his  being  or  not 
being  armed  was  in  question,  ■  It  was  I  who  discovered 
his  powder-flask.'  A  voice  in  the  crowd  said,  'That 
witness  wants  to  get  into  the  Legion  of  Honour.'0 

"Lastly,  when  Picot's  declarations,  against  which 
he  protested  to-day,  were  read,  it  was  said  by  tl.c 
spectators  that  they  were  too  well  written,  and  ren- 
dered in  terms  too  well  chosen  to  be  those  of  a  mere 
servant."  It  might  have  been  added,  of  one  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write  ! 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  that  the  speeches 
for  the  defence  began,  and  that  the  advocates  were 
called  to  the  tribune ;  for  it  was  really  from  a 
tribune  that  they  delivered  their  addresses  on  behalf 
of  their  clients.     In  Paris  the  anxiety  was  extreme, 

s  His  attitude  must  have  been  very  irritating  to  the  judges  on 
more  than  one  occasion.  We  gather  this  from  certain  details 
of  this  report  that  are  not  given  by  the  stenographers.  On  one 
occasion  a  judge  said,  "  Prevent  the  accused  (Coster)  from 
prompting  Merille  in  his  answers."  After  the  deposition  of  the 
girl  Jourdan.  the  President  said  to  Coster,  "  You  ought  not  to 
have  spyglasses."  He  replied  impudently,  "  I  use  them  on  the 
witnesses." 

6  It  is  known  that  the  cross  of  the  legion  was  given  to  one  of 
those  who  arrested  Georges. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       309 

and  we  find  in  the  following  note,  written  on  the 
same  day  by  a  peace  officer  named  Chahonety,  an 
echo  of  the  rumours  that  were  circulating  everywhere. 

"  People  who  trouble  themselves  to  reason  base 
their  prophecies  of  the  condemnation  of  the  greater 
number  of  the  accused,  upon  two  major  political 
points.  The  facts  put  forward  are:  (1)  The  death  of 
the  Due  d'Enghien  ;  (2)  The  conduct  of  the  Russian 
ambassador.7 

"  They  say  that  the  French  imperial  Government, 
not  choosing  to  yield  to  any  foreign  influence,8  would 
rigorously  carry  out  the  project  of  totally  destroying 
the  Bourbons  and  their  satellites."  The  Russian 
ambassador's  "  conduct  °  was  certainly  calculated  to 
exasperate  Bonaparte.  According  to  the  same  note, 
he  presented  himself  in  black  clothes  at  a  reception, 
and,  the  Emperor  having  asked  him  for  whom  he  was 
in  mourning,  received  this  firm  and  startling  answer: 
"  For  the  Due  d'Enghien,  Sire,  by  command  of  my 
Court." 

I  will  now  resume  the  narrative  at  the  point  at 
which  Fauriel  left  it,  on  the  16th  Prairial,  after  Moreau 
had  spoken,  and  endeavour,  by  means  of  the  reports  of 
the  police  agents,  to  give  an  account  of  the  final 
sittings  of  the  court.9 

The  general  had  no  sooner  done  speaking  than  he 

7  Count  Markofif. 

8  u  An  hour  after  Moreau's  arrest  became  known,"  says  a 
report  written  at  the  moment,  "  the  ambassadors  sent  extra- 
ordinary despatches  to  their  courts.  The  Emperor,  and  espe- 
cially the  Archduke  Charles  used  their  influence  with  the  First 
Consul  on  behalf  of  Moreau." 

9  His  speech,  according  to  the  report  of  an  agent,  was  printed 
the  same  day  ;  and  on  the  morrow,  between  the  two  sittings,  it 
was  distributed  gratis  in  the  court. 


310         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

was  applauded  by  a  great  stamping  of  feet ;  for  no 
one  ventured  to  clap  hands,  since  an  arrest  had  been 
made  on  one  of  the  preceding  days  ;!  and  Bonnet, 
his  defender,  was  immediately  summoned  to  the 
tribune.  He  spoke  at  greater  length  than  any  of  the 
others,  and  his  close  and  powerful  argument  produced 
a  sensible  impression  upon  the  hearers.  We  can  see 
from  the  following  passages  that  the  envoy  of  the 
Prefecture  of  Police  shared  that  impression,  and 
conveyed  it  with  sincerity. 

"  Bonnet  having  quoted  a  passage  in  the  examina- 
tion of  Rolland  by  the  Instructing  Judge,  in  which 
the  judge  said  to  Rolland  that  if  he  did  not  state  all 
he  knew  respecting  the  accomplices  in  the  conspiracy, 
he  would  be  regarded  as  their  adherent,  instead  of 
their  confidant,  the  reading  of  this  passage  made  an 
impression  on  the  public.  They  were  of  the  opinion 
of  Moreau's  counsel,  who  declared  that  the  judge's 
manner  of  interrogating  Rolland  had  forced  the  latter 
to  answer  against  Moreau.  In  the  case  of  his 
charging  him,  he  (Rolland)  would  be  regarded  as  a 
confidant  only  ;  in  the  contrary  case  he  would  be  an 
accomplice." 

When  Bonnet  asked  whether  there  were  many  of  the 
accused  who,  like  Roliand,  had  obtained  permission 
to  go  out  of  the  prison  ?  rt  the  Procureur  General 
having  made  some  observations,  murmurs  and  ex- 
clamations arose  among  the  crowd,  and  were  repeated 
when  he  thought  fit  to  check  the  advocate  for  de- 
scribing the  Government  of  the  Directory  as  '  detest- 
On  the  ioth  Prairial.  After  a  scornful  answer  from  Moreau, 
"applause,"  says  a  report,  'arose  among  the  spectators,  and 
Madame  Martignac  was  immediately  arrested  lor  having 
applauded,  and  taken  before  Real." 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       3  1  1 

able."  The  following  made  an  impression  :  "  'General 
Moreau  who  is  for  nothing  in  the  affair.  For 
nothing  ?  No,  I  am  wrong.  General  Moreau  who 
is  for  nothing  but  a  refusal."  In  the  discussion 
upon  the  point  of  the  non-denunciation,  "the  orator 
produced  the  profoundest  impression  upon  his  hearers. 
Extreme  attention  was  given  to  this  induction." 
Lastly,  the  advocate's  summary  caused  "  a  very 
remarkable  sensation.  It  was  quite  evident  that  a 
deep  impression  had  been  made  upon  the  public  by 
the  defence." 

The  counsel  for  the  defence  were  very  indignant 
with  the  President  and  the  Procureur  General,  who 
constantly  addressed  admonitions  to  them  that  were 
as  ill-received  by  the  spectators  as  by  themselves. 
"  Some  of  them  were  quite  disheartened  in  pleading 
the  causes  committed  to  their  charge  ;  others  gave  it 
to  be  understood  that  after  the  trial  was  over,  most  of 
them  would  appear  no  more  at  the  tribunal." 

The  accused  were  not  all  so  fortunate  as  to  have 
defenders  so  skilful  and  so  eloquent  as  Bonnet ;  more 
than  one  of  the  advocates  broke  down  completely, 
not  only  in  ability,  but  in  tact  and  judgment ;  and  on 
reading  the  report  of  the  speeches  for  the  defence, 
we  see  that  the  agent  has  appraised  them  correctly. 
The  counsel  for  J.  P.  Cadoudal  "raised  a  laugh 
several  times  by  saying  that  his  client,  who  was  a 
gardener,  had  gone  to  England  only  to  learn  the  art 
of  English  garden-making,  that  he  was  a  fool,  &c. ' 
u  Monnier  and  his  wife  were  defended  by  a  man 
whose  name  I  do  not  know  (Boyeldieu),  but  who  wore 
every  one  out  by  his  prolixity  and  his  endless  repe- 
titions.    He  caused  a  laugh  several  times."     Collier 


312        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

who  defended  Denant  and  his  wife,  "  pleads  in  so 
pitiable  a  fashion  that  all  the  other  counsel  express 
their  surprise  by  a  murmur,  and  the  public  manifest 
their  astonishment  plainly." 

The  speeches  for  the  defence  came  to  a  conclusion 
on  the  19th  Prairial.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day  the  accused  were  heard  in  their  turn,  and  there 
was  an  affecting  contest  of  generosity  between  the 
Polignacs,  each  brother  trying  to  save  the  life  of  the 
other  at  the  cost  of  his  own.  The  hearing  of  the 
accused  also  occupied  a  short  time  on  the  following 
morning.  But  it  was  only  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  when  the  judges  retired  to  the  Council 
Chamber.  They  resumed  the  sitting  at  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning  on  Sunday,  the  21st.  The  accused 
were  brought  up,  and  the  President  read  the  judgment 
aloud  to  them. 

Twenty  were  sentenced  to  death.  The  following 
is  a  list  of  their  names ;  the  eight  last  mentioned  did 
not  suffer  the  capital  penalty. 

Georges  Cadoudal.  Merille. 

Louis  Ducorps. 

Louis  Picot. 

Roger,  called  Loiseau. 

Coster  Saint-Victor. 

Deville. 

Joyant. 

Burban. 

Lemercier. 

Lelan. 

P.  J.  Cadoudal. 

Five  were  sentenced  to  two  years'  imprisonment. 
These  were : — 


Bouvet  de  Lozier. 

Rusillion.. 

Rochelle. 

Armand  de  Polignac. 

Charles  d'Hozier. 

De  Riviere. 

Lajolais. 

Armand  Gaillard. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        3 1 


General  Moreau. 
Jules  de  Polignac. 
Leridan. 


Rolland. 

The  girl  Hizay.3 


Five  were  sent  back  to  be  brought  before  the 
Police  Correctionnelle.  These  were : — Denand  and 
his  wife  ;  Dubuisson  and  his  wife  ;  Vernet. 

The  others,  sixteen  in  number,  were  acquitted. 

The  deliberation  of  the  judges  lasted  for  twenty 
hours.  The  cause  was  their  long  and  animated 
discussion  of  Moreau's  case.  By  a  first  vote  the 
judges  had  pronounced  his  acquittal,  but  they  were 
forced  to  withdraw  that  vote  by  a  flagrant  illegality. 
One  of  the  judges,  a  brother  of  General  Lecourbe, 
has  revealed  to  us  what  then  took  place  in  the  Council 
Chamber.  He  drew  up  a  statement  immediately, 
for  his  own  satisfaction,  but  he  published  it  on  the 
22nd  of  April,  1814,  the  day  before  the  entry  of  Louis 
XVIII.  into  Paris.3 

We  extract  the  following  passages  : — 

"On  the  21st  Prairial,  year  XII.,  at  noon,  the  court, 
taking  the  cases  of  the  accused  in  their  order,  began 
to  discuss  the  case  of  General  Moreau. 

"  M.  Thuriot,  the  Instructing  Judge  and  reporter, 
spoke  first.  He  dwelt  at  great  length  upon  the  facts 
charged  against  Moreau,  and  ended  by  declaring  him 

2  The  words  of  the  sentence  are,  "  Considering  that,  although 
they  are  guilty  of  having  taken  part  in  the  conspiracy,  the  in- 
struction and  the  discussions  of  the  trial  show  that  circum- 
stances which  rendered  them  excusable  existed,  &c." 

3  "  Opinion  sur  la  conspiration  de  Moreau,  Pichegru,  et  autres, 
sur  la  non-culpabilite  de  Moreau,  et  proces-verbal  de  ce  qui 
s'est  passe  a  la  chambre  de  conseil,  entre  les  juges,  relative- 
ment  a  ce  general,  par  M.  Lecourbe,  juge  en  la  cour  de  justice 
ctiminclle  de  Paris.  23rd  Avril,  18 14."  This  pamphlet  is  very 
scarce. 


314         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate . 

to  be  guilty,  and  that  he  was  for  condemning-  him  to 
death,  according  to  Article  612  of  the  'Code  des 
Delits  et  des  Peines,'  being,  he  added,  convinced  that 
the  convict  would  not  be  put  to  death,  but  would 
receive  a  pardon. 

"  M.  Damenve  pronounced  an  opposite  opinion, 
lie  fully  stated  its  grounds,  and  said  :  '  I  have  rot  been 
able  to  collect  myself  sufficiently  to  discuss  before 
you  all  the  facts  for  the  prosecution  and  the  e'efenre  ; 
but,  voting  on  my  oath,  in  my  soul  and  conscicnc  e  I 
believe  General  Moreau  to  be  innocent,  and  I  am  for 
an  acquittal.' 

"  M.  Clavier,  having  read  a  paper  in  which  he  fully 
stated  the  grounds  of  his  opinion,  declared  himself  of 
the  same  mind  as  M.  Damenve.4 

"M.  Granger,  who  coughed,  and  spoke  very  slowly, 
relied  on  a  great  number  of  the  facts  which  had  been 
acknowledged  to  be  cither  false  or  inaccurate  (facts, 
indeed,  relinquished  by  even  the  Procunur  General 
and  the  reporter)  to  prove  Moreau  guilt}-,  and  he 
urged  the  capital  sentence. 

"  M.  Selves,  whose  turn  it  then  was  to  speak,  rose, 
left  the  room  for  a  while,  and  came  back  to  ^\xo.  a 
verbal  opinion.  He  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion 
as  Granger  and  Thuriot. 

"M.  Laguillaumie,  having  stated  the  grounds  of  his 
opinion,  declared  that  he  did  not  consider  the  general 
guilty,  and  he  voted  with  Clavier  and  Damenve. 

"  M.  Lecourbc,  with  equal  explicitness,  declared 
that  he  was  for  the  acquittal  of  General  Moreau. 


*  It  was  probably  then  that  Clavier  exclaimed,  "And  we  ? — who 
will  give  us  a  pardon  ?"  Clavier,  a  very  learned  Greek  scholar, 
was  Paul  Louis  Courrier's  father-in-law. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Constitute.        315 

"M.  Bourguignon  voted  with  Thuriot,  Granger,  and 
Selves.  He  was  especially  anxious  to  controvert  the 
reasons  which  were  assigned  by  those  who  took  the 
opposite  view ;  but  his  arguments  came  from  his 
head  and  not  from  his  heart. 

"  M.  Rigault  voted  with  Lecourbe,  Laguillaumie, 
Clavier,  and  Damenve,  after  he  had  very  ably  stated 
his  reasons. 

"M.  Desmaisons  said,  "  In  my  soul  and  con- 
science I  believe  General  Moreau  to  be  not  guilty, 
and  I  am  for  acquitting  him."5 

M.  Martineau  voted  with  the  above  mentioned  who 
were  for  the  acquittal  of  General  Moreau. 

"  Lastly,  M.  Hemart,  First  President,  voted  guilty, 
with  Thuriot,  Bourguignon,  Selves,  and  Granger.  He 
afterwards  put  forward  a  number  of  considerations  of 
a  political  kind  and  affecting  public  order,  to  bring 
over  the  majority  who  had  voted  'not  guilty'  to  his 
opinion,  if  possible. 

"  Several  judges  then  claimed  to  be  heard  M.  Le- 
courbe observed  that  there  were  seven  votes  against 
five,  and  therefore  General  Moreau  was  acquitted  ; 
the  matter  was  at  an  end,  and  they  must  now  pro- 
ceed to  discuss  the  culpability  of  the  next  person 
according  to  the  order  of  the  indictment.  There- 
upon arose  a  great  commotion.  President  Hemart 
threatened  to  break  up  the  discussion  ;  he  refused 
to  close  the  debate,  and  forbade  M.  Lecourbe  to 
speak.  The  latter  then  summoned  Fremyn,  the 
clerk,  to  draw  up  the  judgment,  and    declared  him 

5  Desmaisons  was  Corvisart's  brother-in-law,  and  very  in- 
timate with  Bourrienne.  See  the  "  Memoires"  of  the  latter  for 
the  service  which  Bonaparte  wanted  him  to  do  him  with  Des- 
maisons. 


3 16         The  Last  Days  of  t lie  Consulate. 

responsible  for  his  refusal  to  fulfil  the  law.  More 
discussion,  and  fresh  clamour.  Hemart  again 
threatened  to  break  up  the  discussion,  and  retire, 
and  again  forbade  Lecourbe,  Regand,  and  those  who 
were  for  the  majority  to  speak.  He  called  on  the 
reporter  ;  the  judges  in  the  majority  kept  quiet,  in  the 
fear  lest  some  unfortunate  event  might  occur,  and 
consented  to  listen  to  Thuriot.  The  latter  applied 
himself  to  blackening  the  picture,  and  Hemart  helped 
him.  They  spoke  alternately;  they  did  not  venture 
to  say,  \  It  is  our  will  that  you  should  condemn  him  ; 
you  are  in  a  position  which  forces  you  to  a  condemna- 
tion ;'  but  they  gave  this  clearly  to  be  understood. 
Believing  themselves  to  be  organs  and  confidants  of 
the  Government,  they  endeavoured  to  inspire  their 
colleagues  with  the  hopes  and  fear.;  which  they  them- 
selves experienced  ;  they  threatened,  they  actually 
announced,  that  a  civil  war  would  be  kindled  in 
France,  which  would  mean  the  overthrow  of  the  exist- 
ing Government  by  the  acquittal  of  General  Morcau. 
Thuriot  added :  '  You  desire  to  set  Moreau  at 
liberty  ;  but  he  will  not  be  freed  ;  you  will  force  the 
Government  to  make  a  coup  a" Mat,  for  this  is  a 
political  rather  than  a  judicial  matter,  and  great 
sacrifices  are  sometimes  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the 
State.'  Granger  repeated  the  latter  sentiment  in  a 
more  forcible  form,  giving  it  to  be  understood  that 
in  such  a  case  even  an  innocent  person  ought  to  be 
condemned y 

"  It  was  nearly  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  ;  the 
judges  dined  in  the  inner  room  of  the  Council  Cham- 
bers, resuming  the  discussion  after  dinner.  There  had 
been,   however,   during    dinner    much    coming    and 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        317 

going,  private  colloquies,  and  resort  to  the  President's 
cabinet." 

"At  length,  after  much  debate, a  second  discussion 
took  place,  and  a  compromise  was  effected,  by  which 
a  majority  of  eight  votes  sentenced  Moreau  to  two 
years'  imprisonment." 

Lecourbe  adds  the  following  note  : — 

"  It  is  well  to  observe  that,  during  the  deliberation 
before  and  after  supper,  there  were  several  officers 
in  the  President's  cabinet,  adjoining  the  Council 
Chamber,  and  especially  General  Savary  ; 6  also  that 
Thuriot  went  out  several  times  and  held  colloquies 
with  them  and  M.  Real." 

The   colloquies,  the    comings    and    goings,  which 

secured    the    annulment    of    the     first    vote,    were 

brought  about  by  a  strange  letter,  full  of  falsehoods, 

written  by  the  Emperor — who  was  informed  of  what 

was  going  on,  and  alarmed  by  it — to  Cambaceres,  the 

Grand    Chamberlain.      This    letter  gives  an  idea  of 

the  furious  passion    which  possessed    Bonaparte,  of 

his  contempt  for  justice,  and  the  extreme    pressure 

which  he  brought  to  bear  upon  the  members  of  the 

tribunal. 

"  St.  Cloud, 
"20th  Prairial,  year  XII.  (June  9th,  1804). 

"MY  COUSIN, — The   judges  began    to    deliberate 

6  We  may  judge  how  trustworthy  the  "  Memoires  du  Due  de 
Rovigo  "  are,  by  the  terms  in  which  Savary  speaks  of  this  judi- 
cial deliberation.  He  says,  "It  has  been  generally  said  that 
the  members  of  the  Criminal  Court,  thoroughly  knowing 
Moreau's  republican  opinions,  had  given  him  the  benefit  of 
them,  and  that  a  brother  of  General  Lecourbe  (a  partisan  of 
Moreau's),  who  was  one  of  the  judges,  had,  assisted  by  M. 
Fouche,  gained  several  votes  for  Moreau.  /  know  nothing 
about  it,  but  something  of  the  sort  must  have  taken  place." 
"  Memoires  du  Due  de  Rovigo."     1829.) 


318        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

this  morning  at  eight  o'clock.  During  this  time, 
Riviere,  Armand  de  Polignac,  and  Bouvet  de  Lozier 
have  pronounced  their  defenders  to  have  deceived  them 
by  teiling  them  that  by  saving  Moreau  they  would 
oblige  the  court  to  declare  that  there  had  not  been 
any  conspiracy,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  during 
the  trial,  all,  from  Georges  down  to  the  least  of  the 
accused,  spoke  in  the  same  sense.  The  counte- 
nance of  the  court  has  undeceived  them,  and  they  saw 
that  the  manner  in  which  they  have  conducted  them- 
selves might  save  Moreau  and  not  them.  Either  for 
these  reasons  or  for  quite  ot/iersf  they  sent  a  request  to 
the  Instructing  Judge  (Thuriot)  to  be  permitted  to 
make  fresh  declarations.  The  Instructing  Judge,  who 
was  sitting,  could  not  receive  them.  M.  Real  sent 
some  one,  and  it  scans  they  have  stated  that,  instead 
of  three  interviews  be  ween  Moreau  and  Pichegru, 
there  were  five,  and  that,  in  short,  they  have  made 
fresh  charges.  I  wish  you  to  send  me  to  the  Pro- 
cureur  General,  who  should  go  to  the  prison,  as 
the  judges  are  in  consultation,  demand  to  be  admitted 
to  the  sitting,  and  state  to  the  court  that  he  has  to 
inform  them  of  a  new  order  of  things,  the  conduct 
pursued  towards  the  accused,  and  their  fresh  declara- 
tions. You  will  feel  the  importance  of  these  steps, 
especially  after  what  Savary  will  tell  you.7  In  any 
case,  it  seems  to  me  requisite  that  the  Procureur 
General  should  take  cognizance  of  these  latter  facts, 
and  should  state  them  to  the  court. 

"  For  the  rest,  I  am  not  sufficiently  familiar  with  this 
matter  to  overrule  your  opinion.     But  in  a  conspiracy 

7  See  preceding  note  (6). 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Const/ late.        3 1 9 

against  the  State,  the  sentences  being  not  yet  pro- 
nounced, it  ought  to  be  at  the  option  of  the  court  to 
resume  its  sitting  ;  and,  indeed,  the  statement  made 
by  the  Procureur  General  to  the  as>embled  court, 
were  it  in  writing  only,  would  have  the  effect  of  being 
joined  to  the  procedure,  and  giving  room  for  the 
formulation  of  a  sentence  more  conformable  to 
justice  and  the  interests  of  the  State." 

We  may  readily  imagine  how  the  writer  of  this 
letter  and  his  satellites  took  the  verdict  of  the 
tribunal  upon  Moreau,  who  had  been  proclaimed 
irretrievably  lost,  by  the  Government  hacks,  Murat, 
Maret,  the  future  Due  de  Bassano,  Regnaud  de  Saint- 
Jean  d'Angely,  &c,  &c. 

"  I  was  at  St.  Cloud,"  says  Madame  de  Remusat 
(in  her  "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ix.  p.  495),  "when  the 
news  arrived.  Everybody  was  in  consternation.  The 
Grand  Judge  had  rashly  pledged  himself  to  the  First 
Consul  that  Moreau  should  be  condemned  to  death, 
and  Bonaparte  was  so  deeply  displeased  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  disguise  his  feelings.  We  have 
seen  with  what  vehement  fury  he  received  Judge 
Lecourbe,  the  general's  brother,  who  had  spoken  very 
forcibly  at  the  tribunal  for  Moreau's  innocence,  at  his 
first  public  audience  on  Sunday.  He  drove  him  from 
his  presence,  calling  him  a  '  prevaricating  judge,' 
without  any  one's  being  able  to  guess  what  significa- 
tion he,  in  his  anger,  attached  to  that  expression. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  deprived  him  of  his  post." 

She  adds,  a  little  later  :  "  I  observed  among  a  cer- 
tain party  in  the  town,  much  rejoicing  over  the  result 
of  this  event,  which  was  insulting  to  the  Emperor." 

According  to  his  custom,  the  Emperor  endeavoured 


320        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

to  throw  the  blame  of  everything  upon  the  members 
of  his  Council  whom  he  had  consulted  before  he  gave 
orders  for  the  prosecution.  "  These  animals,"  said  he 
to  Bourriennc,  "declare  to  me  that  it  is  impossible  to 
fail  in  getting  a  capital  condemnation  \  that  his  com- 
plicity is  evident,  and  now  they  put  me  off  with  a 
pickpocket's  sentence  for  stealing  handkerchiefs.  What 
would  you  have  me  do  with  him?  Keep  him  ?  lie 
would  still  be  a  rallying- point  ;  let  him  sell  his  goods, 
and  be  off  out  of  France.  What  should  I  do  with 
him  at  the  Temple  ?  I  have  enough  of  them  without 
him."8 

He  ordered  Moreau's  family  to  sell  his  property, 
bought  a  portion  of  it,  and  made  Bcrthier  a  present 
of  the  estate  of  Gros  Bois,  and  the  day  after  the 
execution  of  Georges  Cadoudal  and  his  companions, 
(the  25th  of  June)  the  Moniteur  announced  the 
departure  of  the  conqueror  of  Hohenlindcn  for 
America.1 

Georges  Cadoudal  and  eleven  others  who  were  sen- 
tenced to  death,  and  the  girl  Hizay,  who  was  sen- 
tenced to  two  years'  imprisonment,  had  appealed  to 
the  Court  of  Cassation.  On  the  4th  Messidor  (23rd 
of  June)  the  court  rejected  their  appeal,  and  on  the 
following  day  the  unhappy  men  were  guillotined  at 
the  Place  de  Greve.  The  newspapers  generally 
limited  themselves  to  a  mere  announcement  that  the 
convicts  had  suffered  their  penalty,  but  the  fottrnal 
etes  DSats  gave  the  following  details  in  its  issue  of 
the  26th  of  June  : — 

"  The  condemned  men  were  transferred  last  night, 

8  "  M^moires  de  Bourrienne,"  vol.  vi.  p.  157. 

1  "  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Remusat,"  vol.  ii.  p.  19. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        321 

under  an  escort  of  gendarmes,  from  Bic£tre  to  the 
Conciergerie.  Very  early  in  the  morning  the  letters 
of  grace  granted  by  the  imperial  clemency  in  favour 
of  eight  of  the  convicts  were  brought  to  the  Court  of 
Criminal  Justice.  ,  The  decree  of  that  court,  con- 
firmed by  the  Court  of  Cassation,  against  Georges 
and  the  other  eleven  condemned  men,  was  signified  to 
them  after  the  transfer.  They  all  immediately  asked 
for  confessors.  Georges  knelt  at  the  feet  of  his,  and 
listened  for  a  long  time  to  his  exhortations.  At 
eleven  o'clock,  the  twelve  convicts,  assisted  by  their 
confessors,  were  placed  in  three  carts  which  were  in 
waiting.  In  each  cart  were  four  men  ;  at  thirty-five 
minutes  past  eleven  Georges  Cadoudal's  head  fell,  the 
first.  Two  of  the  others,  Louis  Ducorps  and  Lemer- 
cier,  went  up  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  came  down  some 
time  afterwards,  and  also  underwent  their  sentence. 
Lemercier  was  executed  the  last." 

Was  Georges  the  first  to  die,  as  the  Debats  states  ? 
I  have  not  been  able  to  clear  up  this  point,  because 
the  proch-verbal  of  the  execution,  which  must  have 
been  kept  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  was  destroyed  in  the 
burning  of  that  edifice  in  187 1.  I  raise  this  question 
because  I  found  among  the  detached  notes  accom- 
panying Fauriel's  manuscript,  and  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, one  which  contradicts  the  Journal  des  Debats 
on  that  point,  and  adds  some  details  of  sufficient 
interest  to  be  given  here.  The  note  is  full  of  abbre- 
viations, and  has  evidently  been  written  in  haste, 
either  from  the  dictation  of  an  eye-witness,  or  after 
the  perusal  of  a  document  which  he  had  in  his  hands 
for  only  a  short  time. 

"  At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  Place  de  GrCve 

Y 


322         TJie  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

occupied  by  troops,  as  well  as  all  the  streets  through 
which  the  carts  were  to  pass — windows  hired  — Georges 
much  taken  up  during  the  journey  with  a  person 
dressed  in  black.  He  is  the  last  to  ascend — makes 
all  the  signs  of  a  man  who  wants  to  make  a  speech — 
the  beating  of  drums  drowns  his  words — in  the  midst 
of  the  universal  silence  he  is  heard  to  cry  repeatedly 
until  his  last  sigh,  '  Vive  le  Roi ! ' " 

Ten  years  afterwards,  day  for  day,  on  the  25th  of 
June,  1 8 14,  a  service  was  celebrated  at  the  church  of 
Saint  Paul,  in  Paris,  for  "Generals  Pichegru,  Georges, 
Murcau,  and  the  eleven  persons  who  perished  with 
General  Georges" — thus  the  Monitenr. 

"  A  numerous  assembly  attended  the  ceremony,  and 
all  manifested  a  solemn  reverence.  A  collection  was 
made  by  Madame  de  Polignac,  accompanied  by  the 
Marquis  de  Riviere,  who,  as  it  is  well  known,  escaped 
the  fate  of  the  other  victims.  The  service  was  to 
have  been  celebrated  at  the  expense  of  the  relatives 
of  General  Georges,  but  his  Majesty,  being  apprised 
of  this,  and  being  desirous  to  manifest  his  interest  in 
the  object  of  the  ceremony,  signified  that  he  would 
defray  the  expenses." 

Moreau  well  deserved  to  be  associated  with  the 
former  companion-in-arms  whose  treason  he  had 
unmasked  in  days  past,  in  that  funeral  ceremony.  I  Ic 
had  left  the  distant  land  to  which  imperial  enmity 
had  banished  him,  only  to  go  and  die  in  Bohemia, 
struck  by  a  French  bullet  in  the  ranks  of  our  enemies, 
and  to  give  his  triumphant  rival  the  cruel  joy  of 
seeing  him  go  down  to  the  grave  dishonoured  and 
under  the  ban  of  his  native  land!  Unhappy  man, 
he  could  not  wait !     If,  rejecting  fatal  and  shameful 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        323 

examples,  he  could  have  resigned  himself  to  exile  for 
only  a  few  months  longer,  he  would  have  seen  his 
proud  persecutor  hurled  from  the  throne  and  banished 
from  that  country  which  Moreau  would  have  re- 
entered with  a  head  held  high  indeed.  Then  would 
the  whole  nation,  recently  overwhelmed  by  disaster, 
have  welcomed  the  glorious  outlaw  who  had  so 
often  led  the  soldiers  of  the  Republic  to  victory  with 
acclamation. 


APPENDIX. 


Letter  from   General   Moreau  to  the  Minister  of 
War  (Berthier). 

Army  of  the  Rhine.  Libertv.  Equality.  Headquarters  at 
Strasburg,  29th  Floreal,  year  IX.  of  the  French  Republic,  one 
and  indivisible. 

The  General-in-Chief  to  the  Minister  of  War  of  the  French 
Republic. 

Citizen  Minister,— The  Ordinator-in-Chief  and  the  Pay- 
master-General were  charged  to  render  to  you,  as  well  as  to  the 
public  Treasury,  a  detailed  account  of  the  administration  of 
the  army.  But  the  emphasis  with  which  the  official  journal  in  its 
numbers  of  the  15  th  and  17th  Germinal  asserted  that  no  contribu- 
tion had  been  levied  on  Germany,  and  that  all  the  funds  for  the 
payment  of  the  Army  of  the  Rhine  had  been  furnished  by  the 
public  Treasury,  imposes  upon  me  the  duty  of  giving  you  a  state- 
ment of  the  sums  received,  and  their  employment. 

When  I  took  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Rhine,  in  the 
month  of  Nivdse,  year  VII.  e"ght  months'  pay  was  due  to  the 
troops,  the  distribution  of  victuals  was  most  irregular — not  to 
say  that  there  was  no  such  thing — and  the  clothing  was  in  a 
very  bad  condition. 

I  requested  the  government  to  regulate  the  distributions,  and 
to  give  me  only  two  months'  pay.  I  was  acquainted  with  the 
state  of  the  Treasury,  and  I  had  to  limit  my  demands. 

Y   2 


324        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Before  entering  on  the  campaign  I  received  two  millions 
(francs),  and  this  sum  provided  for  the  most  pressing  needs. 

Six  or  seven  decades  of  pay  were  settled  ;  the  funds  advanced 
for  services  gained  us  credit  ;  and  by  means  of  eight  or  nine 
millions  of  debt  the  distributions  were  made  regularly,  the 
clothing  was  repaired,  and  the  troops  began  the  campaign  cf 
year  VII.  in  tolerably  good  case,  and  full  of  courage  and  good- 
will. 

It  was  not  possible  to  establish  regularity  in  the  collection  of 
contributions  until  after  the  armistice. 

Germany  lacking  money,  it  was  only  through  banking  opera- 
tions that  we  could  hope  to  get  them  in  promptly.  In  order  to 
meet  this  expense  and  all  the  irregular  expenses  which  are 
necessary  to  an  active  army,  I  decided  that  the  Payma 
should  charge  himself  as  receipts  on  behalf  of  the  Treasury  with 
four-fifths  of  the  contributions  only  ;  reserving  it  to  myself  to 
determine  on  private  bonds  the  employment  of  the  remaining 
fifth,  which  I  ordered  to  be  paid  into  a  private  account  [caisse). 

You  should  have  received  copies  of  all  the  procte-verbaux  of 
these  payments.  The  Paymaster  has  also  sent  them  to  the 
Treasury. 

The  total  of  these  receipts  amounts  to  forty-four  millions. 

The  Paymaster  has  been  charged  with  about  thirty-six 
millions,  on  account  of  the  public  Treasury. 

The  funds  which  I   have   :  amount  to  about  seven 

millions. 

The  expenditure  of  the  thirty-six  millions  is  composed  of 
about  twenty-live  millions  for  pay,  and  about  eleven  millions  for 
different  services  and  other  regular  expenses  authorized  by  the 
Ordinator-in-Chief. 

The  expenditure  of  the  seven  millions  which  I  have  reserved 
is  composed  of  : — 

Costs  of  negotiating  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  millions  which 
have  been  got  in  by  banking  operations  only. 

Gratuities  to  the  troops,  the  cost  of  certain  monuments  which 
I  have  had  erected  to  general  officers  deserving  of  commenda- 
tion who  have  been  killed  in  battle. 

Aid  given  to  certain  corps  which  have  suffered  more  than 
others. 

The  payment  of  a  number  of  accounts  due  to  officers,  all  of 
which,  though  correct,  I  was  unable  to  regulate  with  precision 
owing  to  certain  formal  errors. 

When  I  have  received  these  portions  of  the  account  opened 
with  myself  alone,  I  will  give  you  any  explanation  you  may 
desire. 

Of  the  regular  expenditure,  the  Paymaster  will  render  an 
account  to  the  Treasury,  and  the  Ordinator  will  have  sent  you 
the  drafts  of  all  his  ordinances. 


Ike  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.       325 

To  resume,  the  contributions  have  supplied  nearly  thirteen 
months'  pay.  Thus,  supposing  that  the  army  had  been  handed 
over  to  me  paid  up,  a  single  decade  would  not  have  been  due 
to  it  on  re-entering  France. 

I  have  only  been  able  to  give  a  certain  amount  on  account  to 
all  the  services,  since  the  liquidations  are  not  made  ;  but  those 
services  have  been  able  to  pay  almost  all  their  debts,  and  I  pre- 
sume that  what  remains,  which  will  be  probably  from  700,000 
to  800,000  francs,  and  which  will  be  paid  over  to  the  War  Pay- 
master of  the  fifth  military  division,  will  meet  the  sums  due  to 
them. 

The  army  has  been  brought  back  as  well  equipped  as  can  be 
desired  for  troops  who  have  just  made  a  very  difficult  winter 
campaign.  The  infantry  corps  are  as  complete  as  when  they 
went  into  active  service.  Several  are  at  800  or  900  men  per 
battalion,  and  there  is  not  one  under  700. 

The  cavalry  corps  are  more  numerous  than  at  the  beginning 
of  the  campaign  ;  the  resources  of  the  conquered  country  have 
furnished  their  depots  with  the  means  of  equipment  which  they 
needed.     Several  cavalry  regiments  exceed  700  horses. 

The  artillery  has  returned  in  good  case,  bringing  nearly  200 
guns  taken  from  the  enemy,  and  close  on  3000  more  horses 
than  they  took  with  them.  The  arsenals  of  Strasburg  are  pro- 
vided with  wood,  iron,  steel,  &c. 

Lastly,  supplies  to  the  value  of  500.000  francs  have  been 
replaced  in  the  stores  of  the  military  hospitals. 

Be  assured,  Citizen  Minister,  that  I  have  put  the  utmost 
possible  order  into  the  levying  of  contributions,  and  that  I  have 
not  neglected  the  interests  of  the  Republic,  the  conquered 
countries  having  been  taxed  as  heavily  as  they  could  be  without 
violating  the  laws  of  humanity. 

The  Ge?ieral-in-Chief        (Signed)  Moreau. 

P.S.  The  staff  and  officers  without  troops  have  been  paid  up 
to  the  month  of  Flore'al.     This  represents  two  millions. 

The  General-in-Chief       (Signed)  Moreau. 


II. 

Letter  from  Napoleon  to  the  Grand  Judge  concern- 
ing the  Pardon  of  Armand  de  Polignac. 

Saint  dozed, 
22nd  Prairial,  year  X 1 1 .  ( June  nth,  1 804) . 
Monsieur  Regnier,    Grand   Judge,   Minister  of  Justice, — 
We    are    sensibly   affected     by    the    conspiracy    which,    with 
the  help  of  God,  and  by  your  vigilance  and  that  of  the  good 

Preserved  as  we 


o 


26         The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 


have  been  for  ten  years  from  dangers  of  all  kinds,  we  are  en- 
titled  to  think  that  it  would  not  be  in  the  power  ot  man  to 
attempt  our  life  until  Providence  should  have  marked  the  term 
of  it,  and  we  ourselves  will  care  to  defend  it  only  so  long  as  it 
shall  be  useful,  and  we  shall  believe  it  necessary  to  the  Great 
People.  We  should  therefore  have  cast  into  oblivion  and 
hushed  up  the  rumour  of  this  conspiracy,  as  we  have  done  in 
other  cases,  if  \\e  had  not  discerned  a  real  danger  to  the 
destiny  and  the  interests  of  the  nation,  in  the  peculiar  character 
which,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  has  been  imparted  to  it  by  the  inter- 
vention of  men  sheltered  under  the  mask  of  great  services.  Many 
individuals  condemned  by  our  Criminal  Court  have  appealed 
to  us  ;  and,  either  through  weakness,  or  from  that  sentiment  of 
indulgence  which  has  ever  guided  us  in  our  government,  leading 
us  to  pardon  the  enemies  ot  whom  the  nation  had  most  right  to 
complain,  and  which  has  happily  enabled  us  to  reunite, 
reorganize,  and  restore  to  the  country  more  than  eighty  thousand 
families,  we  have  been  unable  to  prevent  ourselves  from  being 
touched  by  the  grief  of  Madame  Armand  de  Polignac.  Besides, 
we  have  remembered  that  we  were  well  acquainted  with  this 
young  man  at  school1  in  our  early  years  of  boyhood,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  has  forgotten  this,  in  the  outrageous 
attempt  to  which  he  allowed  himself  to  be  led,  since  he  has 
forgotten  those  duties  towards  his  country  which  under  all  cir- 
cumstances should  be  borne  in  mind  by  every  Frenchman.  We 
have,  then,  resolved  to  take  advantage  of  our  prerogative  to  the 
full  extent,  and  to  grant  him  the  grace  of  life,  ch  irging  you  to 
present  at  our  next  Privy  Council  letters  to  that  effect,  and 
we  desire  that  he  be,  on  the  instant,  transferred  to  where  his 
brother  is. 

Napoleon. 

III. 

The  subsequent  Fate  of  the  pardoned  or  acquitted 
Prisoners. 

On  the  day  of  the  execution  of  Georges  and  his  eleven  com- 
panions, Napoleon  sent  a  note  to  the  Grand  Judge  ("  Corre- 
spondance,"  vol.  ix.  p.  506)  in  which  he  enjoined  him  to  have  all 
those  individuals  whom  the  court  had  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment sent  off  that  same  night  to  their  several  places  of  con- 

1  "  Correspondance,"  vol.  ix.  p.  406.  For  the  steps  taken  to 
save  Armand  de  Polignac,  see  the  second  volume  of  the  "  Me- 
moirs of  Madame  de  Rem u sat,"  who  played  an  active  part  in 
the  matter,  and  was  rather  ill-rewarded.  This  letter  apprises  us 
of  a  fact  that  was  not  known,  or  at  least  seems  to  have  been 
forgotten,  viz.  that  Napoleon  and  Armand  de  Polignac  had 
been  school-fellows.     "Where  ?    The  letter  does  not  say. 


The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate.        327 

finement.  Exception  was  made  of  Rolland,  whose  information 
had  been  so  useful.  "  He  may,"  says  the  note,  "  be  left  at  the 
Abbaye,  having  had  no  connection  with  the  promoters  of  the 
civil  war,  and  not  having  meddled  in  this  affair,  except  by  his 
relations  with  Pichegru,  who  no  longer  exists." 

Spin  was  ordered  to  leave  Paris  on  the  following  day,  and 
the  individuals  who  had  been  tried  and  acquitted  were,  with  the 
exception  of  some  of  whom  we  shall  presently  speak,  banished 
to  forty  leagues  from  the  coasts  and  from  Paris,  and  placed 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  police. 

The  eight  condemned  men  who  had  been  saved  from  the 
scaffold  by  imperial  clemency,  were,  according  to  the  tenor  of 
the  'Tetters  of  grace,"  to  be  transported  after  four  years'  im- 
prisonment ;  but,  for  lack  of  a  place  of  transportation,  their 
detention  was  indefinitely  prolonged.  One  of  them,  Lajolais,2 
who,  notwithstanding  his  retractations,  was  none  the  less 
severely  handled  by  Fauriel,  died  a  prisoner  in  the  Chateau  d'lf 
at  the  end  of  1808.3 

1  have  learned  what  the  Empire  did  with  the  seven  others  who 
were  pardoned  from  a  very  important  document,  for  my  ac- 
quaintance with  which  I  am  indebted  to  M.  Georges  Picot, 
Member  of  the  Institute.4  It  is  the  report  of  the  commissaries 
who  were  sent  to  inspect  the  State  Prisons  in  1812,  and  to 
receive  the  petitions  of  the  inmates.  We  find  recorded  in  this 
report  the  cause  and  date  of  the  imprisonment  of  each,  and 
the  decision  of  the  Emperor  on  the  subject  of  their  requests. 

2  Bourrienne,  who  had  brought  the  same  charges  against 
Lajolais  which  Fauriel  brings,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  his 
"  Mdmoires  "  (pp.  273,  274),  has  inserted  a  long  note  in  the  ninth 
(p.  200),  from  which  I  extract  the  following  sentences.  While 
acknowledging  that  "  the  conduct  of  Lajolais  was  perhaps  such 
as  to  awaken  suspicions  in  the  minds  of  Moreau's  friends,"  and 
also  that  "  his  heedlessness,  which  he  has  but  too  severely  ex- 
piated, may  have  borne  the  semblance  of  treason  at  a  time  when 
it  was  so  great  an  object  to  find  traitors,"  he  states  from 
authentic  proofs  which  were  placed  before  his  own  eyes,  that 
"  Lajolais  was  a  more  than  imprudent  accomplice,  and  not  an 
impelling  agent  in  Georges  Cadoudal's  conspiracy."  What  are 
those  proofs?     Bourrienne  ought  to  have  told  us. 

According  to  the  Journal  de  Paris  of  the  nth  of  June,  1804 
(p.  1750),  it  was  Lajolais'  daughter,  a  girl  of  fourteen,  who,  having 
got  access  to  the  Emperor,  obtained  her  fathers  life  from  him. 

3  Among  others,  on  the  subject  of  the  pretended  interview  of 
Moreau  and  Pichegru  on  the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine. 

4  The  original,  which  M.  Picot  had  found  at  the  Ministry  of 
Justice,  is  at  present  in  the  National  Archives.  He  has  kindly 
lent  me  a  copy  which  he  had  made. 


328        The  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate. 

Hardly  any  of  the  latter  were  granted.  The  following  are  the 
particulars  which  concern  the  persons  with  whom  we  are 
occupied. 

Rochelle  and  Rusillion  were  confined  in  the  Chateau  d'lf, 
and  also  D'Hozier,  who,  "  protesting  his  fidelity  and  attachment 
to  the  Emperor,  desires  liberty,  that  he  may  devote  his  life  to 
his  service." 

Gaillard,  who  also  protests  his  fidelity  and  attachment,  and 
Bouvet  Lozier,  who,  being  ill,  begs  in  vain  to  be  transferred  to 
a  "  maison  de  sante  "  in  Paris,  were  at  the  Chateau  de  Bouillon 
(Ardennes). 

Armand  de  Polignac,  who  had  succeeded  in  getting  admis- 
sion to  Dubuisson's  **  maison  de  sant£"  in  Paris,  "recognizes 
that  he  owes  this  to  the  generosity  of  his  Majesty,  to  whom 
he  will  be  happy  to  prove  his  gratitude."  His  brother,  who  was 
condemned  to  only  two  years'  imprisonment,  and  ought  to  have 
been  set  at  liberty  in  1806,  but  was  still  immured  in  the  same 
place,  u  begs  with  confidence  and  respect  for  the  execution  of  the 
judgment  concerning  him,  and  relies  upon  the  generosity  of  his 
Majesty."  Both  these  persons  took  advantage  of  the  confusion 
caused  by  the  invasion  of  18 14  to  escape. 

The  decision  of  justice  respecting  the  accused  who  had  been 
acquitted,  and  whom  the  President  had  directed  to  be  set  at 
liberty,  according  to  the  law,  if  there  were  no  other  cause  of  de- 
tention against  thorn,  was  carried  out  in  the  case  of  several  of 
them  in  the  following  manner  : — 

The  imperial  commissaries  found  at  Ham,  Victor  Couchery 
and  Noel  Ducorps  ;  at  the  Chateau  de  Herve,  Rubin  de  la 
Grimaudiere  and  Datry.  To  their  just  demands  answer  is 
made  in  a  note  which  states  that  the  Emperor  had  decided 
that  they  were  to  be  detained  until  peace  was  made  with 
England,* 

•According  to  the  "  Biographie  Universale,"  supplementary 
article  "Riviere,"  p.  189,  Riviere  ''obtained  the  commutation 
of  his  sentence  through  the  intervention  of  Madame  de  Mon- 
tesson,  and  not  through  that  of  Murat.  who  was  afterwards 
given  the  credit  of  it."  We  read  in  the  "  Memoirs  of  Madame 
de  Remusat "  that  "  Murat,  who  by  his  violent  conduct,  and  his 
animadversions  against  Moreau,  had  excited  universal  indigna- 
tion, wanted  to  rehabilitate  himself,  and  obtained  the  pardon  of 
the  Marquis  de  Riviere." 


. 


THIS  "BOOK  t*  TV*  0> 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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